Home and Away has officially confirmed that Hailey Pinto has joined the show as Abigail Fowler, the sister of Eden and Levi.
Eden (Stephanie Panozzo) first arrived in Summer Bay in July 2022, with her estranged brother Levi (Tristan Gorey) arriving in November last year. While there have been passing references to another Fowler sibling, little has been known about her – until now.
Abigail Fowler is described as “energetic, sassy, headstrong and a bit stubborn,” but while she appears confident on the surface, she’s hiding a more complex backstory which will be gradually revealed.
Home and Away is Hailey’s first major acting role. She was born in Swizerland before moving to Perth at one year old, and moved to Sydney after graduation, where she began studying acting during the Covid pandemic.
“It was absolutely crazy, studying acting during a global pandemic. I do feel like it would have been nicer not to have been so distant from everyone,” she told the Courier Mail.
Her hard work paid off, and she landed the role on Home and Away just three months after signing with an acting agency.
“It’s all happened really quickly, I got my agent in late November, then the audition came through in February,” Hailey continued. “I then got a callback, and just two days later, I got a call saying that I booked it.”
The arrival of another Fowler sibling has been anticipated for a while, after Back to the Bay witnessed Hailey filming at Palm Beach back in March, with a post on social media by one of the show’s crew later hinting at her character’s name.
We witnessed Hailey filming during what we believe to have been Cash (Nicholas Cartwright) and Eden’s engagement party, though we weren’t able to confirm either her connection or character name.
However, we did see Hailey’s character interacting a lot with Eden, and in the weeks following she was seen filming further scenes with both Eden and Levi.
A glimpse of a script, posted publicly on social media by a crew member, then revealed that Eden and Levi were sharing a scene with a character named Abigail.
Until last year, Eden’s backstory had been relatively unknown, other than the fact that she grew up in a funeral home. When we met Levi in November, it was only then that we learned that Eden had been estranged from him ever since their father had an affair whilst they were in their teens.
Eden and Levi’s father had moved out of the family home, and Levi going to live with him was seen by Eden as him taking sides. As a result she had not spoken to her brother for around 15 years.
There have only been passing references to Levi and Eden having another sister however, with nothing yet known about the third and final Fowler sibling until now.
Her arrival comes shortly after Levi and Eden’s father James “Jimmy” Fowler (Aaron Jeffery) made an unexpected appearance in the bay last week.
While Levi and his dad still have a close relationship, Eden was furious by Jimmy’s arrival in the bay and still refuses to build bridges with the man she sees as destroying their family years earlier.
It remains to be seen whether Abigail and Jimmy will share scenes together, and whether Abigail’s arrival will help repair the father-daughter rift between Jimmy and Eden.
A number Hailey’s fellow Home and Away cast members took to social media to welcome her. Commenting on the show’s official Instagram post, Stephanie Panozzo wrote “Yasss ❤️🔥😍” while Luke Van Os, who plays Xander, added “Yeeewwwwwww 👏🔥” and Emily Weir (Mackenzie) responded with “❤️❤️”.
Meanwhile, Tristan Gorey posted an Instagram story with the caption “Welcome to the Bay little sis”.
Abigail is expected to arrive on Australian screens on Thursday 8th August, and will make her debut UK screens in late September.
