Exclusive: Neighbours star Georgie Stone promises "hope" for Mackenzie after Hendrix's exit

Neighbours spoilers follow.

Neighbours star Georgie Stone has spoken to Digital Spy about the importance of not ending Mackenzie Hargreaves's story on a "depressing" note.

Mackenzie was left devastated in this week's episodes as her husband Hendrix Greyson tragically passed away after his lung transplant failed.

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With just a few weeks before Neighbours airs its final ever episode, the long-running soap doesn't have much time left to show where Mackenzie goes from here.

Asked whether she'd like to see a ray of hope for Mackenzie's future, Georgie told Digital Spy: "Definitely. I'm very protective of Mackenzie. I love her and I want her to be okay.

benny turland and georgie stone as hendrix greyson and mackenzie hargreaves in neighbours

Fremantle / Gina Milicia//Channel 5

"I think in telling stories about grief, we need to acknowledge and show people that there is hope afterwards and your life doesn't end with this loss.

"I think it would be a disservice to this wonderful trans character, who has meant so much to so many people, to have her end in this really dark, devastating place."

Warning of dark times to come in the next few weeks, Georgie continued: "We have to service the story and we can't sweep her grief under the carpet. I didn't want that and I made sure that wasn't the case.

"But we also have a responsibility not to depress our audience too much. Also, I didn't know how long I could take it – I was so exhausted from all the emotional storylines and I didn't know if I could take it for much longer! There needs to be some hope."

Fremantle//Channel 5

Georgie was speaking to Digital Spy while still filming Neighbours and hadn't yet received the final scripts. When we asked whether Mackenzie's ex-boyfriend Richie Amblin could make a return, she admitted that she didn't know for sure but was unaware of any plans.

Mackenzie dumped Richie in 2020 after discovering that he had spread lies about her around school, and had even ranked her performance in bed on an app called 'The Ladder'.

Georgie added: "I think the fans did get closure on Richie. I think when Richie came back a few months after they broke up, they did have that closure where Mackenzie understood and accepted Richie's apology and they agreed to be friends.

"You see, Lachie [Millar, who plays Richie] is such a charismatic actor that he can do anything and we will all go: 'Aw, but Richie!' Me included!

"But what he did was pretty bad. It was sexual harassment."

Neighbours airs weekdays at 1.45pm and 6pm on Channel 5 and streams on My5. In Australia, the show airs Mondays to Thursdays at 6.30pm on 10 Peach and streams on 10 Play.