Home and Away has revealed that Ziggy Astoni and Dean Thompson are set for a surprise return to screens next year.
The show has today confirmed that fan favourites Sophie Dillman and Patrick O’Connor are set to reprise their roles as Ziggy Astoni and Dean Thompson in Home and Away when it returns to screens in the new year.
Their scenes are set to be filmed later in October in the Whitsunday Region of tropical north Queensland. Producers are keeping tight-lipped on what causes us to be reunited with the pair, simply describing it as “a top-secret storyline that will play out at a yet to be announced date, early 2025.”
Sophie Dillman played Ziggy between 2017 and 2023. On returning to Home and Away, Sophie said: “It feels so good to be home!”
Patrick O’Connor, who joined the show less than eight months later than Sophie, first appearing on screen February 2018, added: “I can’t wait for the action, and for fans to see this storyline play out.”
Much-loved couple Dean and Ziggy left Summer Bay in March 2023, moving to far north Queensland to be closer to Dean’s son Jai (River Jarvis) and his mum Amber (Maddy Jevic).
Since their departure, Dean’s sister Mackenzie (Emily Weir) has paid them an off-screen visit as she nervously revealed to Dean that she had begun dating Levi (Tristan Gorey), who had left his loving wife Imogen (Georgia Blizzard) to be with her.
Mackenzie was initially anxious that her fiery brother might have issues with her new relationship, especially since it involved breaking up a marriage. However, she was pleasantly surprised when he offered his support instead.
Will we see Mackenzie paying her brother and sister-in-law a visit on-screen soon? Or could there be another reason for their return? Only time will reveal the answer.
The show’s publicity team has hinted that more details about Ziggy and Dean’s return will be shared early next year.
Dean and Ziggy left the show in 2023 after Dean’s ex, Amber Simmons (Maddy Jevic), accepted a job in far north Queensland. This came three years after Amber revealed to Dean that he had a son he wasn’t aware of.
Dean and Amber’s history dates back to their time growing up together in Mangrove River, where they were part of a close-knit group of friends that included Colby Thorne (Tim Franklin) and Willow Harris (Sarah Roberts). While Amber always had feelings for Dean, he viewed their relationship as nothing more than casual.
Years later, Dean had put his River Boy past behind him and moved to Summer Bay, where he’d found himself in a relationship with Ziggy and had bagged himself a secure job working at – then later owning – Ben’s Boards.
Amber arrived in Summer Bay in July 2020 as John’s (Shane Withington) carer after he suffered a stroke. Dean was taken aback to be reunited with his ex, but it was Colby who was in for the biggest surprise, as Amber punched him in the face the first time she saw him.
A few weeks later, Amber eventually revealed she’d been hiding a massive secret from Dean for a number of years – she’d fallen pregnant shortly after Dean left Mangrove River, and now had a five-year-old son named Jai.
The revelation eventually broke up Ziggy and Dean, after Ziggy became increasingly jealous of the close bond Dean was forming with both Jai and Amber.
Their split led the way for Dean to get back with Amber, while Ziggy hooked up with Tane (Ethan Browne). However, Amber eventually realised that Dean was still in love with Ziggy, and always would be.
As much as she longed to be with Dean, Amber realised that it was only Jai’s existence that had caused them to get back together, and that they didn’t have the emotional connection that Dean shared with ex-girlfriend Ziggy shared.
Amber left Summer Bay, but promised Dean that he would always play a part in Jai’s life. True to her word, Jai returned on a number of occasions since.
Dean and Ziggy eventually reunited, and some time later they received some life-changing news of their own, as Ziggy discovered she was pregnant.
At the end of January 2023, Ziggy gave birth to baby Izzy Astoni-Thompson.
Just a couple of months later, everything changed when Amber received a job offer thousands of miles away in Queensland.
Dean readied himself to say goodbye to Jai, facing the prospect of a long-distance parental relationship.
With a newborn to take care of, Dean realised that he wouldn’t be able to regularly travel between Summer Bay and Queensland, meaning he faced only seeing his son a few times a year – that is, until Ziggy proposed that they move to Queensland too.
Not only would it allow Dean to see his son as often as he wanted, but Queensland was conveniently where Ziggy’s sister Coco (Anna Cocquerel) moved to a number of years ago.
Ziggy recognised that being close to her sister could come in handy now that they had a baby daughter to look after.
After getting Ben’s blessing, Dean quickly set about transferring ownership of Ben’s Boards over to recent arrival Mali Hudson (Kyle Shilling), who had for years been Dean’s off-screen board shaper.
After packing up their lives, and paying one last visit to the beach that had been such an important place for them in their time in the bay, Ziggy and Dean said goodbye to their closest friends, and left Summer Bay for their new life together in Queensland.
Their final scene saw Irene (Lynne McGranger), Justin (James Stewart), Mac, Gabe (Akos Armont), and Mali all gather outside the surf club where Dean and Ziggy had parked up ready to leave town.
Mali promised to do Dean proud, before handing him the framed copy of Dean and Ziggy’s coastal news front cover, which has been hanging up in the board shop since they won the Summer Bay surf competition back in 2021.
As their final episodes aired, Patrick spoke to TV Week about the emotions he felt filming the final scenes.
“The final scene is in the car, and we drive off into the sunset – it felt like a really nice way to say goodbye to them,” he revealed. “The last day was so emotional.”
“We finished filming around 4pm and it was normal – until my last scene, where Dean was handing the board shop to Mali. I had to turn away from the camera because I was quite upset.”
Now, we look set to be reunited with the pair in early 2025, a little over two years after their departure! As for why, all will be revealed in the new year…
