Yet, despite Dean’s exit, the door remains open for his return in the future, hints showrunner Chris Clenshaw.

This week, gripping courtroom drama unfolded on EastEnders, with Dean at the heart of a trial where he faced accusations of murdering Keanu Taylor (portrayed by Danny Walters) on Christmas Day 2023, though he’s not the perpetrator but rather a pawn in a vengeful scheme tied to an earlier crimethe rape of Linda Carter (played by Kellie Bright) a decade ago.

With the testimony from Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner), Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean), and Linda herself, Dean’s outlook appeared increasingly bleak.

However, in a shocking twist, Dean admitted to assaulting Linda, leading to a mistrial and leaving fans hanging about whats next for him, reports the Daily Star.

The official EastEnders social media platforms revealed on Thursday (September 5) that Matt Di Angelo had bid farewell to his role as the villainous Dean, drawing an outpouring of gratitude from the team.

Celebrating his departure, the message read: “Farewell to the marvellous Matt Di Angelo AKA devious Dean Wicks. From all the cast and crew at EastEnders… Thank you, you’ll be missed!”

Alongside the farewell tribute was a video capturing Matt’s last day on set, inclusive of commendations from the shows executive producer Chris.

In his speech, the BBC bigwig paid homage to Matt: “I just wanted to say a huge thank you to Matt for giving us one of the most vile characters, one of the most hated characters in Britain and on British TV.”

“Thank you for coming back and playing out this next chapter of Dean’s story.”

Chris then teased: “Even though I think Dean’s finally got his comeuppance, I have a strange feeling that this won’t be the last we ever see of Dean or, in fact, you.”

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“And thank you for being a joy to work with and for taking the character in such good spirit. We owe you a lot.”

Will Dean Wicks face prison time? Or is he set for a surprising retrial?