Last month it was revealed that Robert Kazinsky would be returning to EastEnders as Sean Slater 20 years after his initial debut, sending shockwaves through the soap’s fandom.
Now, speaking exclusively with Radio Times on the red carpet for the National Television Awards 2026, Kazinsky has revealed that his return has been in the works for a long time.
“It’s been kind of going on for about seven, eight years,” he said. “Slow conversations and figuring out what, if ever, it was ever going to happen. And then the current executive, Ben Wadey approached me with a storyline that I have to do.
“I’ve always wanted to come back. It’s always been a thing, even when doing whatever movie I was doing at the time, whenever I get interviewed and get asked about EastEnders, I’ve always said ‘One day, one day, one day’. And when they came to me with this particular storyline, one day was today.”
Kazinsky revealed he was a month in to filming, and it has “felt right” reuniting with old co-stars, such as Gillian Wright, Jake Wood and Scott Maslen.
When asked what he could reveal about Sean’s personality and how he has changed upon his return, Kazinsky responded: “It was very important when Sean came back that isn’t a completely new Sean.
“We still want to see Sean being Sean, but there is a 20-year more experienced violence in the man that wasn’t there when he was young. A premeditated Sean is a lot scarier than a reactionary one.”
Kazinsky has previously returned for guest appearances as Sean in 2019, 2021 and 2022, after initially leaving the soap in 2008.
When his latest return was first announced, Kazinsky said: “I left EastEnders in 2008 as a 23-year-old boy and was lucky to spend the next 19 years of my life working around the world, always championing EastEnders and stating the fact that one day I wanted to walk in Sean’s shoes again, but this time as a man to see who Sean the man might also be.
“I wanted to do it for Sean, I wanted to do it for the fans that have supported me in every role since I left the Square but, mostly, I wanted to do it for me. I’m home, and I can’t wait to bring a new level of heartfelt chaos to Albert Square in the way only Sean Slater can.”
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