Carter Shepherd is set to turn his attention to troubled teen Lucas Hay in upcoming scenes in Hollyoaks.
John Paul McQueen has been left suspicious of the Hollyoaks High School headteacher after Carter attempted to practice conversion therapy on him.
Carter has since turned on John Paul as he grapples with his own sexuality, which he believes to be a sin, despite rising chemistry between the pair in recent episodes.
However, he now sets his sights on counselling Lucas who himself is struggling with his identity as a gay man.
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Leah Barnes asks Dillon Ray to speak to Lucas as she sees him struggling, but when Carter spots the two boys together, he decides to guide them and tells them they must begin coaching the Year 7s in after-school football training.
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During training, the pair become close following a stumble and Dillon accuses Lucas of wanting to kiss him, with Lucas storming off.
Matters are only made worse when Ste Hay and Leah tease Lucas about his lack of love life, with James Nightingale stepping in to support him.
Lucas doesn't accept Dillion's apology following their altercation, and Dillon later confronts Lucas about his sexuality leading Lucas to run off as his emotions get the better of him.
A fraught Lucas tells Misbah Maalik that he is to blame for his problems, which prompts Misbah to ask Carter to keep an eye on Lucas. In chilling scenes, Carter tells Lucas that if he doesn’t want to be like his dad, he must go the extra mile.
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Carter actor David Ames previously spoke to Digital Spy about the importance of the soap tackling a conversion storyline, describing it as "very of-the-moment."
"It's constantly back and forth in the news at the minute that our present Conservative government under Rishi Sunak are thinking of scrapping the ban on conversion therapy again, something they pledged to get rid of months, even years, ago," he continued.
"It is very important that we are illustrating quite how corrosive this practice is. Carter isn't just a man with an evil plan, he too has been put in a position where religion has made him feel less-than and therefore it's corrupted his mind and made him feel he needs to pass it on to those around him.
"Not only that, you see the effect it has on other men in this situation. Other people who are susceptible to those who they look up to, they're shown the 'way' and usually this unfortunately takes the guise of religion."
Hollyoaks streams first online via Channel 4 each weekday at 7.30pm. Episodes then air on E4 the following day, before getting their YouTube premiere a week after that.
Selected omnibus episodes are available via Prime Video.
