Kym Marsh has been playing Michelle Connor on the cobbles for 13 years.
And the Coronation Street star admitted she wanted to leave the soap before she got "too old" to try her hand at different acting roles.
The actress, 43, confessed she will be reduced to tears on an "emotional" last day filming after starring in the role for 13 years.
However, the grandmother revealed she would like to play a psychopath in a "really dark drama" because she wants to grow herself as an actress.
She told OK! magazine : "It’s going to be strange and there’s a little bit of nervousness there but I’m ready for it. I want to try new things before I’m too old.
“My last day will be emotional and I’ll cry my eyes out. It’s my decision to go but they’re kindly leaving the door open and I’d like to think I’d go back one day.
“I really want to do something different now. I’d like to play a psychopath in a really dark drama. I want to stretch myself.”
Kym took to social media to reveal she was back to work shooting scenes.
She has been sunning herself for the last three weeks, in Gran Canaria with her man Scott Ratcliff, 31, and her daughter Polly, eight.
Kym wrote: "Back to work today after three amazing weeks off, with some of the people I love the most! Need to find Michelle Connor again!!"
The mother announced she was going to be bowing out of the soap in March for an extended break.
Previously, Kym shared one of the main reasons she was going to be leaving the soap was to help her daughter Emilie Cunliffe, 22, out with her newborn.
In June, the star was delighted when her daughter gave her newborn the middle name Archie as a touching tribute to Kym's stillborn son who was born 18 weeks premature in 2009.
Kym became a grandmother for the first time at the age of 42.
