Hollyoaks spoilers follow.
Hollyoaks star Matthew James-Bailey has revealed that a storyline between Ethan and Sienna was originally planned to pan out a different way.
The storylines were changed after Hannah Cheers and Angelo Abela took over from Lucy Allan on the soap as co-producers in 2023.
Speaking on the Soap From The Box podcast, James-Bailey shared that an astonishing twist involving Dilly (Emma Johnsey-Smith) being revealed as Sienna's (Anna Passey) sister nearly didn't happen.
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"Dilly being Sienna's sister wasn't even an option," James-Bailey said. "Then Hannah and Angelo have come in and absolutely turned it on its head which it should be.
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"Audiences shouldn't be expecting anything and there should be massive twists. In true Hollyoaks fashion, they came in and went: 'This is what we're going to do with it'."
Continuing, James-Bailey explained what the original storyline was set to be.
"Sienna would then run off and get the mansion and she would would go down a sort of a darker path and it was up to Ethan to save her," he revealed.
"Dilly was a kind of footnote in the storyline, however, Hannah and Angela came in and sat us all down and told us the new storyline about Rafe and Dilly being husband and wife and Dilly being Sienna's sister and I remember my jaw being on the floor."
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James-Bailey concluded by adding: "It's phenomenal and exciting because it changes the whole dynamic of the acting. It changes how you go about a scene and it became really fresh, really new and really exciting. It's great and they've done it so well. I don't think audiences were expecting it at all."
The storyline has only continued to become more and more dramatic; after Sienna discovered that Dilly was not only Rafe’s wife, but also her half-sister, Dilly revealed that she had killed Rafe as revenge for him falling in love with Sienna – and Ethan proved to be a surprise ally.
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.
