EastEnders producers have reportedly chosen to recast the role of Max Branning’s son Oscar to bring the character back to the soap for the first time in almost a decade.
Oscar Branning first appeared on the soap in 2007 and was previously played by Charlee Hall until 2017, alongside Jake Wood as his dad Max and Jo Joyner as his mum Tanya Branning.
The role of Oscar will now be recast to the actor Pierre Moullier (Fate: The Winx Saga, The Jumper Factory, My England), who will return to Albert Square as a teenage Oscar after the child’s eight-year hiatus.
A source told The Sun: “It is an exceptional bit of casting – Pierre looks more like a younger Jake than Jake did himself. It's uncanny. He's going to bring something new to Oscar and the character will definitely set the cat amongst the pigeons in the Square.”
The Independent has contacted BBC representatives for comment.
The news comes after Jake Wood was reported to be making his own EastEnders return for the first time since December 2020, earlier this month.
The 52-year-old actor first featured on the show in June 2006 and was not killed off during his exit as showrunners intended to leave the option for him to return.
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Last year, Wood told Kate Garraway and Ed Balls on Good Morning Britain that he had “no plans” to return to EastEnders, but added: “It’s been a while… Never say never.”
Elsewhere on the Square, Lacey Turner, who played Max Branning’s daughter in law and love interest Stacey Slater, announced she is leaving the programme for an indefinite period earlier this month.
Turner’s career break comes after her character was left grieving the death of her ex-husband Martin Fowler (James Bye), who declared his love for her shortly before he was killed in an explosion at the Queen Vic.
Following Turner’s exit from the soap, producers are reportedly looking to Wood to liven up forthcoming plot lines.
Max Branning left Walford in 2020 to start a new life in New Zealand after failing to steal Linda Carter (Kellie Bright) away from her husband Mick (Danny Dyer) for good following their affair.
Max is known as one of the soap’s biggest “love rats” and has been married to Tanya Branning (Jo Joyner), Kirsty Branning (Kierston Wareing) and Rainie Cross (Tanya Franks).
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