Emmerdale fans believed they’ve worked out the reason for Rob Sugden’s return to the Dales after it was reported actor Ryan Hawley would be making his way back to the ITV soap

Emmerdale fans ‘rumble’ Robert Sugden’s reason for return(Image: ITV)

Earlier this year, it was reported that Emmerdale fan favourite Robert Sugden would be making a shock return to the ITV soap, six years after his exit. The ‘brief’ return will reportedly coincide with his brother John Sugden’s wedding to Robert’s ex Aaron Dingle. However, fans think they’ve worked out the ‘real reason’ for his return.

Ryan Hawley starred as Robert Sugden for five years until 2019 after his character was jailed attacking sister Victoria’s rapist Lee after initially pleading guilty to GBH. After Lee died from brain haemorrhage sustained from the attack, he went on the run with husband Aaron before handing himself into police.

Recently, fans have been fearing for Aaron as John was revealed to be responsible for multiple worrying going ons in the village, including the death of Cain’s son Nate Robinson – with some thinking Rob will be back to “save” his ex from his brother.

Rob and Aaron tied the knot in 2018(Image: ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

Robert’s charge was then upgraded to murder, and he was handed a life sentence, with a minimum of 14 years. However, it’s only been six years since he was locked up – and therefore fans think he may only appear in a nightmare, and not actually return to the Dales at all.

Taking to Reddit, one fan said: “I think most likely he only appears in one of John’s nightmares but I do wonder if there’s something that triggers it like Vic telling them Robert is appealing his sentence or Robert writing to Aaron to tell him that or something to maybe plant the seed for a proper return. Otherwise I can’t see why John would be that bothered about him when he knows Robert still has a while left in prison and he’s got bigger problems with Aiden and Nate.”

“I think im in agreement that it’s probably a nightmare scenario but I do find it interesting there’s going to be a physical Robert stint at all,” said another who highlighted that John’s already shown to be insecure about Aaron’s past with Robert.

Aaron is currently with John(Image: ITV)

Due to the return reportedly being “brief” others were convinced that fans would see a few prison scenes with the character – whereas others thought he may be released early. “I can only think of him being released early from prison, hear about Aaron getting married (from… someone?) and come back to shoot his last shot with Aaron just in the nick of time,” said one.

“But I don’t think he’d do it to “save” Aaron, as I don’t think he knows much of who John is. (Nobody in the village knows John’s the villain so extremely unlikely for Robert to then know.) It’s more likely he has his own selfish agenda as historically that’s the drive behind a lot of his character’s acts.”

Previously speaking on his rumoured return, a source told The Sun that it was the “biggest secret in soapland”, continuing: “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.

“It’s going to be a huge surprise for fans especially the Robron fans who have missed Robert desperately since Ryan quit,” the source added.

Bosses were so desperate to keep the secret from audiences that they were said to have using fake names on scripts and smuggling him in and out of the studios.

However, eagle eyed fans had spotted clues pointing towards his return in the weeks before. During this time, Rob had been mentioned, visited in prison by a character and his secret brother John making a debut.

Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX, with an hour-long episode on Thursdays.