Following a lot of speculation about his comeback, Coronation Street star Chris Harper has officially stated he’s “not going back” to the program. In May, the actor returned to the role of Nathan Curtis following a seven-year hiatus.
Before it was announced he will be part of the ongoing Lauren Bolton narrative, there were rumors that the character, who groomed Bethany Platt as part of a sex trafficking operation before being imprisoned in 2017, would be making a comeback.
It was Bethany, played by Lucy Fallon, who was the first to spot Nathan back in Weatherfield at the reconstruction of Lauren’s last known movements. Having initially thought Nathan was behind bars, she discovered he was released from prison some time ago and was working on a building site nearby.
Knowing his history, and his appetite for young girls, Bethany soon hit on the idea that Nathan could be behind Lauren’s then-disappearance and suspected murder.
He was quickly confronted by Bethany and her boyfriend Daniel Osbourne before other people got involved, including her mum Sarah Barlow and her mum’s ex Gary Windass.
But eventually, Nathan was put behind bars. As Corrie viewers know, newcomer and dodgy police office Kit Green planted evidence in the abuser’s van that linked him to Lauren’s disappearance.
Sarah was planning on doing it in a bid to get Nathan out of her daughter Bethany’s life. But Kit caught her and later planted the evidence himself in Nathan’s van, leading to Nathan’s arrest for murder as Lauren, who has since returned to Weatherfield, was presumed dead.
Corrie fans know that it was in fact Joel Deering who was behind Lauren’s disappearance after he brutally attacked her. But in a bid to keep everything he’s done secret, he’s asked Lauren to lie and say it was Nathan who groomed her and to this day, he is still being kept behind bars.
But despite Joel’s downfall pending, Chris has revealed it won’t include a return for Nathan to the street. “No, I’m definitely not going back,” he told, as he prompte dhis latest role in the celebrated play, Art.
He added: “But never say never, I suppose! I genuinely do not want him to have a forgiveness arc. So, I don’t know why he’d keep coming back to Weatherfield. It’s Bethany’s journey, not his. It’s got to be about Bethany’s life, and I think he’s done his time. But if you could get Sally Wainwright to write something between Joel and Nathan, and it was past nine o’clock, I think it would be worth doing!”
Chris previously said on being asked to return to the show: “I was emotional when I was told about Nathan’s potential return. During the 18 months he was in it before, hundreds of people shared with me how the storyline reflected something they, or someone they loved, had lived through. It remains important to keep them in mind as we continue Bethany’s story.”
