Soap Opera Character Seemingly Drowns in Leaked Set Photos

Set photos from the British soap opera EastEnders leaked last week, potentially spoiling a major character’s death. Fair warning: there are spoilers for The BBC’s EastEnders ahead!

The photos published by The Sun last week showed actress Gillian Wright in a wedding dress wading out into the ocean in a full-on wedding dress. Wright plays Jean Slater on the series, who fans know suffers from bipolar disorder and has been on track to a serious manic-depressive episode. The photos showed Wright in a long-sleeve white dress with a huge flowing skirt and a white lace veil, topped with a colorful crown of flowers. All of it became soaked and shrunken as she made her way out into the cold water.

The photos don’t tell us much about the scene, but at least one shows Wright looking back at the shore with a curious expression on her face. It’s not clear if this was done in character or not. Either way, she continued out to sea after that and became completely submerged.

Seeing these photos, many fans seem to suspect that Jean will drown in this episode and will be gone for good. However, other leaked photos show Jean’s daughter Stacey (Lacey Turner) chasing her to the beach and eventually running out into the water after her. It could be that Stacey will get there in time to save Jean, but fans won’t know for sure until the episode airs.

For those unfamiliar, EastEnders has been following Jean’s mental health struggles since 2004 and has since revealed that her daughter has bipolar disorder as well. The two women have tried to help each other cope with the ailment over the years, and the show itself has been praised for its earnest depiction of this and other mental health issues.

In the current storyline, Stacey has been trying with limited success to help Jean through her bipolar disorder and convince her to get professional help. The episode being filmed in these photos is reportedly not expected to air until later this year, so we know at the very least that Jean will continue to struggle until then. Jean, meanwhile, has been weaponizing gifts and secrets to influence Jean’s relationship with her own children.

EastEnders is one of the most popular soap operas in the U.K. and has been running continuously since 1985. In the U.S., you can stream EastEnders on Britbox, Acorn TV or on AMC+. There’s no word yet on when the episode leaked above might air.