‘EastEnders’ boss: ‘No plans to recast Johnny Carter’
By Sam Rigby
EastEnders
executive producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins has insisted that he has no plans to recast the role of Johnny Carter.
Actor Sam Strike recently announced that he will leave the BBC One soap after a year in the role, with his final scenes airing this week – read more here.
Treadwell-Collins – who based the character of Johnny on his younger self – said that the door is “wide open” for a return should Strike want to reprise the role.
He said: “I’d hope that Sam would come back. We only recast if we really think the audience would buy it and there’s an important reason to do it.
“EastEnders has always recast. Mark Fowler was a recast and there’s always been recasts in all soaps, but you’ve got to be careful. You’ve got to leave enough time and make sure the actor is convincing.
“There’s also a lot of Carter stories at the moment. I miss Johnny, but I don’t need to have him there so I wouldn’t want to [recast]. You always hope that Sam would want to come back, so you don’t want to close that door.”
Strike was at the centre of an emotional storyline earlier this year, when his character came out to his father Mick (Danny Dyer). The storyline earned the soap the Media Recognition prize at the Attitude Awards in October – watch the pair collecting the award here.
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