Emmerdale is entering 2026 with a chilling pattern: every storyline seems to end in somebody leaving. From a criminal mastermind running modern slavery to a family facing a baby-led farewell, the show is stacking exits that feel inevitable — and still shocking.
Emmerdale’s 2026 is already moving like a story built to break hearts, and the cast list is feeling the pressure first. After a 2025 packed with exits, deaths, and headline-level returns, the Dales is heading into a year where big storylines do not just change lives — they remove people from the board. With at least one major exit expected to land early, the village is bracing for a cycle of goodbyes that looks less like routine turnover and more like the fallout of everything that came before.
The first name sitting at the centre of the storm is Celia Daniels, because her storyline was never designed to last forever. Actress Jay Griffiths has been clear that Celia’s time on the show is finite, and that clarity gives the character a dangerous inevitability: every crime she commits feels like another step toward a door that only opens one way. Celia arrived and immediately destabilised the village, clashing with Moira and refusing remorse even when her actions crossed lines the Dales does not forgive. What began as chaos hardened into something colder when Celia’s role as the ruthless mastermind behind a County Lines drugs operation came into focus.
Celia’s threat has never been just the damage done in public; it has been the private machinery behind it. Modern slavery, coerced labour, manipulated teenagers, and the captivity of Bearwolf turned her from a soap villain into a village-level infection, the kind that forces everyone around her to make compromises just to survive the day. Griffiths has pointed to the importance of showing modern slavery as something that can exist next door, not as a distant horror, and that thematic weight makes Celia’s exit feel like a reckoning that has to be paid in full. The only question is what form the payment takes when the storyline finally demands closure.
Ray Walters, Celia’s son and partner in crime, is caught in the same gravitational pull — but with an added layer of volatility. Ray’s involvement in trafficking and modern slavery leaves little room for redemption, yet the storyline has teased the possibility that he could become the weak link in his mother’s control. A surprising romance with Laurel has given Ray a glimpse of another life, and his decision to defy Celia by letting April go reads like the first crack in a partnership built on fear. That crack is also the kind Celia punishes, and Ray’s future now hangs on whether he becomes the one who stops her or becomes another victim of her endgame.
John Sugden’s presence adds another threat, because obsession is never a stable storyline currency. John may be back, but the narrative energy around him suggests a return with a purpose rather than a return with a future, especially with his fixation on Aaron and his hostility toward Robert. A failed plan to frame Kev for Robert’s death has already shown the limits of John’s control, pushing him toward riskier moves and messier consequences. With John confirmed to feature in the big crossover territory, the tension is no longer about whether he will bring danger — it is about who will be standing when the danger finally lands.
Victoria Sugden’s anticipated departure carries a different kind of punch because it arrives through real-life joy rather than scripted tragedy. Actress Isabelle Hodgins is expecting her first baby, and after nearly two decades on the show, she has spoken about being ready for a new chapter focused on motherhood. That reality reshapes the emotional temperature of Victoria’s exit, because it makes the goodbye feel warm and inevitable at the same time, especially in a village where characters leaving often feels like a punishment. Even if the door is left open for a return, the gap Victoria leaves behind will be loud, and the village tends to feel emptier when familiar “everyday” characters step away.
The wider context makes these exits feel heavier because Emmerdale has already been thinning its ranks. 2025 saw multiple characters depart, and that recent churn has trained viewers to watch every storyline for the moment it becomes a farewell. That tension is also why temporary exits matter: they mimic the emotional shape of permanent loss, even when the show promises a comeback. When the village has been through enough upheaval, even a short absence can feel like a fracture.
Mandy Dingle’s expected brief departure sits firmly in that “temporary but impactful” category. Lisa Riley filmed an exit storyline ahead of her appearance on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here, with Mandy reportedly heading to Ireland to help Tina Dingle’s kids. It is designed to be low-key, but the Dingles rarely do anything without making it emotional, and a “quiet” exit can still sting when the village is already braced for bigger losses. The reassurance is built in: Mandy’s return is expected once filming resumes after the jungle stint, yet the timing places another goodbye on top of a village already wobbling.
Steph Milligan’s step away also carries the clear framing of maternity leave, but the storyline stakes make it feel unfinished rather than paused. Actress Georgia Jay has stepped back while pregnant with her first child, with Steph leaving after her relationship with Ross imploded. That is not an ending that resolves — it is an ending that leaves pressure in the air, because broken relationships in the Dales rarely stay broken in silence. When Steph returns, the emotional consequences of what was left behind are likely to be waiting, sharper for the time apart.
Cathy Hope’s break continues the pattern of temporary departures shaped by real life, with actress Gabrielle Dowling stepping away to focus on A Levels and Cathy written out on a round-the-world cruise with Brenda. That detail matters because Brenda’s exit is described as permanent, meaning Cathy’s “light” storyline vehicle is attached to something heavier underneath. The show may use the cruise as distance, but the village never lets distance erase what it owes emotionally.
For now, there are no major announcements about brand-new arrivals, and that silence makes the exits feel even louder. When a soap pauses on introducing fresh faces, it often signals that existing storylines still have consequences to cash in, and Emmerdale’s 2026 looks built on fallout rather than novelty. With Celia’s finite arc approaching its end, Ray’s fate tightening, John’s obsession boiling, and Victoria stepping into a new real-life chapter, the Dales is entering a year where departures will not feel like loose ends — they will feel like the story’s point.
With Victoria stepping away and John spiralling, which relationship fractures first: the Sugden family bond, or the village’s faith in its own sense of right and wrong?