Robert Sugden has made a long awaited and shock return to Emmerdale as his former lover Aaron Dingle – played by Danny Miller – prepared to tie the knot with his new love John Sugden

Robert Sugden has made a long awaited and shock return to Emmerdale(Image: ITV)

Robert Sugden devastated fans when he was jailed back in 2019 and left Emmerdale. Ryan Hawley left his role on the ITV soap six years ago when his character was sentenced to life in person for the murder of his sister’s rapist.

Robert was given a minimum of 14 years without parole after killing his sister Victoria Sugden’s rapist Lee Posner but fans were devastated to see him go as they had become huge fans of Robert and Aaron, affectionately nicknamed Robron.

Back in 2019, sources had claimed that Ryan left the soap in order to explore new other projects. The insider said: “Emmerdale fans have loved every minute of RobRon’s story, and what Ryan has brought to playing Robert. But he has decided to take a break from the show for the foreseeable future and try other projects.

Aaron and John’s wedding takes place this week on Emmerdale(Image: ITV)

“It’s fairly standard for actors playing long-running characters to have a rest and make a comeback. And there’s a bit of a clue in the word ‘break’ there… Fingers crossed!”

Fans were devastated to see him leave the show – as were the cast, with people desperate to see him back on the show. Danny Miller, who plays Aaron, had previously called for Robert’s return.

“For me, as an actor, Ryan coming back as Robert would be great but I know he’s got a young family himself and he’s off doing bits and bobs himself so maybe one day we’ll be able to tempt him back. But not anything imminent,” he said a few years back.

Mike Parr – who plays Ross Barton – had also called for Robert to return.

‘Robron’ were fan favourites on the soap(Image: ITV)

“It has to be Robert, doesn’t it, he is a fan favourite. I think I would love to bring him back just to satisfy the audience as I see how thirsty they all are for him, for Ryan Hawley’s return,” he said, “He was a lot of fun to work with, when Robert and Danny (Aaron Dingle) were together they made a good villain for Ross to go against.”

Of course, that’s come true – with fans no doubt thrilled to have Robert back, just as John plans to marry Aaron.

“It’s the biggest secret in soapland but Robert is returning to Emmerdale. Ryan has a lot of respect for the show and its fans and he really wanted to give them a treat so he agreed to come back for a brief stint,” a source said of his return, “It’s going to be a huge surprise for fans especially the Robron fans who have missed Robert desperately since Ryan quit. Nothing was seen as being too extreme to keep the secret with fake names on scripts, smuggling him in and out of the studios and keeping everything very tight.”