Judging by EastEnders’ flashforward episode, 2026 is going to be highly dramatic, particularly for Mr. Kiss-Marry-Kill (more on that later), Max Branning (Jake Wood).
Several weeks ago, ‘Enders bosses announced that this years New Year’s Day episode would be set an entire year in the future. While the soap has previously ventured into the future with the much-celebrated ‘Six’ storyline, tonight’s episode saw the biggest leap forward.
Executive producer Ben Wadey said of the historic announcement: ‘For the first time in the show’s history, we’re going to be offering our viewers an entire flashforward episode set on New Year’s Day 2027.
‘2026 is going to be full of drama in Walford, especially for the Brannings, and the episode is sure to raise plenty of questions on how Max has got himself, and his family, into such predicaments, but all is not what it seems, so stay tuned for 2026 to find out how and why.’
Well, he definitely wasn’t lying, folks.
Max is a perennial lightning rod for drama, with both of his 2025 returns causing carnage. He blew Lauren Branning (Jacqueline Jossa) and Peter Beale’s (Thomas Law) wedding out of the water with his comeback and drove a massive wedge between Zoe (Michelle Ryan) and Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner) before dipping out, returning just in time to discover he had a secret daughter with Linda Carter (Kellie Bright), have a punch up with brother Jack (Scott Maslen) for keeping it a secret and sleeping with his ex, sleeping with Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins) and ruining Lauren’s sons Christening.
He ended 2026 buy pledging to be the father that they deserve, with Lauren doubting his capability. Judging by the flashforward ep, she was right.
New Year’s Day 2027 opens with a mysterious man reaching his leather gloved hand into his glove box and taking out a phone. As he puts it back, we see that he’s also stashed a gun in there. Surely a classic case of Chekhov’s Gun. Since guns only have one function, it’s safe to assume at this point, that Mr. Leather Gloves is a baddie, right?
As a delivery arrives at the Vic for ‘the Branning wedding’, Max wakes up next to a woman, a baby scan image on the side lets us know that she’s pregnant. His future bride, surely?
Of course not. This is Max Branning, silly goose! As he ventures into the kitchen, he receives a call from his bride-to-be while he makes a brew for whoever his other paramour is.
Lauren discusses Max with Oscar (Pierre Counihan-Moullier), with it clear that their relationship has remained strained. She can’t quite believe the wedding is going ahead, though Oscar has clearly rebuilt his own relationship with their dad. While Lauren is attending the wedding, husband Peter certainly isn’t.
While visiting Jack, we meet the first new arrival: baby Ethan, who Jack is taking care of. Who is Ethan? Who does he belong to? Why is he here? No idea. While it’s clear that he and Denise Fox (Diane Parish) are on bad terms, Lauren buoys her uncle, before receiving a mystery text, asking to meet in the ‘usual place’.
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We then learn from Ian and Kathy Beale (Adam Woodyatt and Gillian Taylforth) that Ian is the best man. Kathy can’t quite believe it, as something has clearly gone on between Ian and Max…and who ever he’s marrying. Ian, though, insists that it’s water under the bridge. It’s clear at this point that people still mostly dislike Max from the amount of references to a recent incident and…well, the fact that Ian of all people is his best man.
Another mystery man arrives in a car and is revealed to be a police officer who instructs a team of armed police to move in. Max, noticing the sea of neon green swarming his front door, tries to tell his showering bed-buddy that the police are approaching, then jumps out of the window.
Arriving at Lauren’s, he informs her that he’s been tied up with some dodgy people but that this is a set up and he’s innocent. As Lauren acts holier-than-thou, Max informs her that he knows what she’s been doing. She eventually agrees to let him hide out there, then instantly calls the police herself.
As Patrick Trueman (Rudolph Walker) helps Oscar with his tie, reaffirming that he’s a Trueman now, he and Ian exit to see the copper-filled Square and try to prize information from them, while Lauren opens the door to the police, who chase Max through to the back and arrest him for solicitation to murder (that’s arranging a killing, for those of us who aren’t in the police…or well versed in hiring hit men). This is also where Jack pulls out the ‘kiss-marry-kill’ line that I pinched earlier. I’m not sorry.
As Max is dragged away and the Beales and Brannings reconvene, Oscar urges Jack to check in at the station to find out just what the hell is going on, reminding him that, if it weren’t for Max, Jimmy and Ethan would be dead. There’s also Man (no, really, he’s credited as Man), that Lauren is particularly shifty around. Was it Man texting her? What is her link to Man? What does Max know about her and Man? Who is Man?!
As Lauren retreats home with Oscar in tow, Mr. Black Gloves sneaks into her house with his gun and after Max’s police interview, where he may or may not have given up his ‘criminal contacts’, she receives another text informing her that it’s decision time. As she goes to potentially make said decision, she walks straight into Mr. Black Gloves, pointing a gun at her head.
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As Jack oversees Max’s interview and decides to ring the bride, several characters receive phone calls. Chelsea Fox (Zaraah Abrahams) (who’d described Max as ‘fit’ yesterday), Linda, Cindy and finally, Denise, who’s daughter Libby (Belinda Owusu) has returned for the first time since 2017, receive the phone calls, though we remain none-the-wiser about who the bride is.
We also learn during this time that Nicola Mitchell (Laura Doddington) is angry at Chelsea and has a broken ankle, but that seems neither here nor there…
Max gets released and speeds his way back to the Square in Jack’s car where he receives a chilling video of a captured Oscar and Lauren with a gun pointed at them. Mr. Black Gloves isn’t a total git, though, he’s offering to let Max choose who dies…
Who’s Max sleeping with? Who’s Max marrying? Who’s Mr. Black Gloves? Who is baby Ethan? Who is Man?
What is Libby doing back? I mean, it’s lovely to see her, but I want answers!
What on Earth is going on and how did we get here?! 2026 is going to be a bumpy ride for the Beale/Branning cohort, and for the viewers, too!
