In shock news for Packed To The Rafters fans, it has been announced that Jessica Marais will no longer be appearing in the Amazon Prime reboot.
The actress was confirmed to have pulled out of the project, Back To The Rafters, in a statement made by RGM Artists on Tuesday afternoon.
“Jessica Marais has decided to step away from the new series Back to the Rafters for personal reasons,” the statement read.
“She thanks everyone involved on the show for their ongoing support and love, especially her ‘Rafter’s family’, and sends them her very best wishes for the production.”
Jessica will no longer return for Back To The Rafters.
(Image: Amazon Prime)
The 35-year-old was slated to appear alongside her former co-stars, including Rebecca Gibney, Erik Thomson, Hugh Sheridan, Angus McLaren, Michael Caton and George Houvardas in the reboot which is filming this year.
Amazon Prime officially announced the show’s revival in December last year, revealing the invigorated series will follow Dave and Julie’s new life in with youngest daughter Ruby, while the older Rafter children face new challenges and Grandpa Ted struggles to find his place.
WATCH BELOW: Jessica Marais wins a TV WEEK Logie for Best Actress in 2016 and speaks about her daughter Scout. Story continues after video…
In 2018, Jessica took a break from acting following her struggle with mental health issues, dropping out of Nine Network’s production of Bad Mothers. She was later replaced by Tess Haubrich.
Her management released a statement at the time, which read: “Jessica has decided to step away from acting for the remainder of 2018 to focus on her health and spend time with her family.
“She is disappointed that she will not be a part of the Bad Mothers production with such an incredible cast and team behind it, but knows that it is important to take time out to maintain ongoing balance and wellbeing.”
The actress pulled out of the project for “personal reasons”.
(Image: Getty)Jessica was later attached to Halifax: Retribution and was set to appear in a small role alongside her former Rafters on-screen mother, Rebecca Gibney, but withdrew from this project.
“Unfortunately the shooting time-frame just did not work with Jessica’s schedule and personal commitments,” a Nine spokesperson said at the time.
The Logie-winning actress has previously been open about her experience with mental health and spoke to the Australian Women’s Weekly in 2014 about her bipolar disorder diagnosis.
Jessica rose to fame on the hit Australian TV show.
(Image: Channel Seven)“There’s a history of bipolar in my family and I was diagnosed at one point with bipolar,” the mum-of-one explained.
“I’ve had cognitive therapy training, so I choose not to be medicated.”
She added: “I have developed ways to talk myself down from any ledges I find myself on.”
Jessica shot to fame in the hit Channel Seven series Packed To The Rafters which debuted in 2008 and ran until 2013. Her Back To The Rafters gig was set to mark her return to acting.
