After 37 years of laughing, crying and watching beloved characters develop, fans said goodbye to their favourite Australian soap series, Neighbours in July 2022.
However earlier this year, fans received the shock news that Neighbours will return to our screens to Amazon Freevee internationally and Network 10 on September 18, 2023, Monday to Thursday at 4:30pm then 6:30 on 10Peach and 10Play. Then premiering on Prime Video Australia and New Zealand on September 25.
So who will be featured in the reboot?
Krista is returning to Neighbours.
(Image: Getty)A few weeks following its premiere, Neighbours revealed “Krista is ALIVE!” and actress Majella Davis will be joining the new cast.
The announcement came as a massive “bombshell” to fans given the show was well into the season, many other cast members were announced prior to its start including beloved Ramsay Street residents Stefan Dennis as Paul Robinson, Alan Fletcher as Karl Kennedy, Ryan Moloney as Toadie Rebecchi, Jackie Woodburne as Susan Kennedy and Ian Smith as Harold Bishop.
It was also confirmed the Emmy-winning star and the man who played Mike Young for more than 450 episodes, the one and only Guy Pearce would be returning to Neighbours.
“There may be a little appearance or two, shall we say,” he told Good Weekend Talks podcast.
While Guy reprised his role in 2022 for the ‘finale’, but the star hadn’t featured on the show since 1989.
Harold’s is also under new management as Neighbours confirmed on Instagram that Shiv Palekar will be joining as Haz Devkar with a cute photo of himself and Ian Smith, who plays Harold Bishop.
Harold and Haz!
(Image: Instagram)
Our first look at Mischa!
(Image: Instagram)Hollywood’s Mischa Barton is joins as a guest star, playing Reese, on the reboot. The British-American actress has featured in The O.C and Invitation to a Murder.
“I’m excited to be part of this iconic show’s next chapter, and I am really looking forward to being back in Australia a place I know and love! I think the character of Reece is going to be a great role for me to explore and play with,” she said.
In a recent post to Instagram, Georgie Stone who played Mackenzie Hargreaves also revealed she was be returning to the iconic series.
“Ramsay Street here we come… (again!),” she wrote. “So excited to be coming back to Neighbours alongside these legends 🎉❤️ stay tuned!!!”
Also returning is Rebekah Elmaloglou who played Terese Willis, Tim Kano as Leo Tanaka, Annie Jones, Lucinda Cowden as Melanie Pearson and Lucinda Armstrong-Hall as Holly Hoyland.
Plus, three from the Rodwell clan will be returning to our screens including Emerald Chan as Sadie Rodwell, Lloyd Will as Sergeant Andrew Rodwell and Candice Leask as Wendy Rodwell.
April Rose Pengilly and Jodi Gordon will return to Neighbours.
(Image: Instagram)Channel 10 has confirmed fan favourite couple April Rose Pengilly and Jodi Gordon will return to their roles as Chloe Brennan and Elly Conway respectively. While they’ll only return as extended guests on the reboot, April confessed she cannot wait to “continue their love story.
“We can’t wait to see how Chloe’s been handling step-mum life with little Aster. We continue to be blown away and grateful for the support from the #chelly fandom, and hope they enjoy this next chapter,” April said.
Melissa Bell will also be making a guest appearance, including a bunch of other “fresh faces” such as the brand-new Varga-Murphy family. The family is made up of wives Sarah West who plays Cara and Naomi Rukavina who plays Remi, plus their two sons Riley Bryant who plays JJ and Marley Williams as Dex.
Network 10 is yet to confirm which other characters will be returning to the screen. As many former actors took to Instagram to reveal they were unaware Neighbours was getting a revival.
There have been suspicions Jodi Gordon could be returning after she dropped a major hint on Studio 10.
Meet the Varga-Murphy family.
(Image: Instagram)
Neighbours is returning in September 2023!
(Image: Instagram)”There are conversations happening, I say that with a big smile on my face,” Jodi told hosts Angela Bishop, Tristan MacManus and Narelda Jacobs.
In the initial announcement, numerous actors were left in the dark about a Neighbours revival and took to Instagram to share their sentiment.
Such cast members left in the dark include Takaya Honda as David Tanaka and Matt Wilson as Aaron Brennan and Jason Donovan who was tipped to return despite being “surprised”.
Also left in the dark about the revival was iconic Australian actress Debra Lawrance, who played Liz Conway, who informed TV Week that she it was likely she would make an appearance.
”I don’t know, they haven’t called me.”
She then joked: ”I certainly can’t go back to Home and Away because Alf is living in my house.”
Also reluctant to make an appearance is Caitlin Stasey who felt she had outgrown her character, Rachel Kinski.
”I’ll just do a zoom in and they can pretend that Rachel is in London or something,” Caitlin joked to TV Week.
Neighbours‘ new season will be returning on Amazon Freevee and Prime Video as their international partner, but Network 10 will retain its first run broadcast rights in Australia.
Executive vice president and chief content officer at Paramount Australia and New Zealand, Beverley McGravey revealed the production crew held onto the hope the series would return.
“We are absolutely delighted to welcome Neighbours back home to Network 10, and while we loved the finale earlier this year and appreciated the incredible support from the cast, crew and fans, we continued to hold a small glimmer of hope that one day it would be possible to resume the series.”
And as of April 17, 2023 filming for the reboot has commenced at Nunawading Studios in Melbourne.
Neighbours premieres Monday, September 18 At 4:30pm on 10 And 10 Play, and 6:30pm on 10 Peach.
Neighbours fans will be able to catch all the latest action on 10, with episodes also available to stream on Prime Video the following week. For fans in the US and UK can stream all the Ramsay Street drama for free on Amazon Freevee.
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