EastEnders will be rocked next week as they learn one resident isn’t returning to Albert Square after receiving some sad news

Spoilers for next week’s EastEnders see one resident fail to return to Albert Square after receiving some sad news.

Soap watchers will recall that Ben Mitchell left earlier this year when he was arrested in shock scenes as he faced fraud charges in the United States. Ben was horrified after he was arrested in front of his daughter Lexi, and in sad scenes, she told him she was disappointed about all that was going on with him.

Later, in more sad scenes, Callum Highway came to visit Ben – after previously refusing to do so – and they shared a heart to heart. Callum told Ben he wasn’t splitting from him, and that he would support him but begged him to plead not guilty with it all. However, Callum was devastated when he found out that Ben had decided to plead guilty and was being extradited to the United States, leaving both him and Ben’s mum Kathy Beale devastated as they shared a hug in the pub.

In spoilers next week, Kathy returns from America and breaks the news to Phil Mitchell that Ben is in a bad way, revealing Ian Beale is staying on to try to get him a better lawyer. Later, Kathy asks Phil to put all his efforts into helping Ben’s appeal – but will he agree and help?

It comes as actor Max Bowden has teased a return to EastEnders – just six months after he quit. Max played Ben for five years, before departing his role earlier this year. He appeared on Good Morning Britain earlier this month to talk about his new stage role – but revealed he would be up for a return to EastEnders if the storyline allowed.

Speaking about if he’d come back to the BBC soap, he said: “Never say never! I had a really amazing five years. I have so much gratitude for the show and I have several friends that I keep in contact with. I would never rule it out!”

It comes after Max admitted he was burned out from his time on the show. “The important thing was my time was ready. I was very tired, and like I said, I wasn’t me, I wasn’t. The Max sat in front of you today was kind of a ghost, and they recognised that – I recognised that,” he said.

“I did nearly six hundred episodes in five years, which is a hell of a lot, and it was time for a rest. The character was tired, I was tired, they [the producers] were probably tired of me being tired. From an honest perspective, I think yeah, a lot of it was that I needed to go for a bit. I needed to go work on me, get myself back to a place of really good mental health,