Fan favourites Sophie Dillman and Patrick O’Connor announce surprise return to Home and Away

They played a couple on the show — and became one in real life.

And now fan favourites Sophie Dillman and Patrick O’Connor are returning to the place their love first blossomed — Home and Away.

The couple, who played Ziggy and Dean on the long-running soap for many years before departing screens in March 2023, are headed back to reprise their roles for a storyline set to air in 2025.

“It feels so good to be home,” Dillman said of her return to the Sydney-based series after two years away.

O’Connor added: “I can’t wait for the action, and for fans to see this storyline play out.”

Details about what transpires are being kept hush-hush, but production has revealed the couple, who have been based in the United Kingdom for the past few years, will be heading away from the Bay to shoot their return.

“Scenes will be filmed this month in the Whitsunday region of tropical north Queensland, for a top-secret storyline that will play out at a yet-to-be-announced date, early 2025,” producers revealed.

Prior to their on-screen departure, Ziggy and Dean were much-loved residents of Summer Bay, their on-again/off-again romance enchanting fans right across the world.

After a turbulent pregnancy, in 2023 Ziggy and Dean welcomed baby girl Izzy into the world, and their characters were last seen saying farewell to their home in Summer Bay to head north to Queensland so that Dean could be closer to his son, Jai.

Home and Away airs weeknights at 7pm on Seven.