EastEnders fans shouldn't give up hope for an eventual reunion of Kat and Alfie in Walford just yet.
The BBC One soap made the surprising announcement earlier this week that Jessie Wallace will be returning to EastEnders in the New Year for a bombshell Slater family storyline — only without Alfie (Shane Richie) by her side.
Kat will reappear in Albert Square along with Big Mo (Laila Morse) and Jean Slater (Gillian Wright) to set Stacey (Lacey Turner) straight following her horrific encounter with Max Branning (Jake Wood) over Christmas.
EastEnders offered no definitive answers on the whereabouts of Alfie, who viewers last saw flatlining on the operating table in the series finale of the spin-off Kat & Alfie: Redwater earlier in the year.
But just as Kat survived a near-drowning in that same episode, there's fresh hope that Alfie will also recover from his brain tumour. Earlier this week, The Mirror questioned EastEnders' interim producer John Yorke about whether Alfie could return at some point.
"Alfie will always be a part of the EastEnders family," Yorke assured the news outlet.
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While that's not confirming that Kat and Alfie will be reunited next year in Walford, it's at least an indication that Alfie hasn't kicked the bucket quite yet.
Shane Richie previously tipped that Kat and Alfie miraculously survived their Redwater cliffhanger back in October while discussing a potential return to EastEnders.
"Thankfully, Kat and Alfie are not dead. That's as much as I know," he confirmed. "You know what I love? Every time you get actors, they always say, 'Never say never'. And I've watched and I've gone, 'Shut up, never say never'.
"Because all these actors make out it's their decision whether they go back or not, and it's bollocks. It's never their decision.
"So I'd like to sit here and go, 'Maybe I'll see how I feel about it'. Trust me, if I get the phone call from EastEnders... I loved being there. I've got a lot of friends that are still there.
"If I got the phone call to come back, I'd love the idea."
In the meantime, you're probably most likely to catch Shane at your local honkytonk as he promotes his new album A Country Soul. Yee-haw!
EastEnders continues on Friday (December 22) at 8pm on BBC One.
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Digital Spy Soap Scoop video – hit play below for all the latest EastEnders gossip, as Max gets his comeuppance on Christmas Day and Fi takes revenge against Willmott-Brown.
