RYAN Thomas is making a bombshell return to Coronation Street nine years after quitting and retiring from acting.
The actor – who plays Jason Grimshaw in the ITV soap – has agreed to a limited return to give on-screen mum Sue Cleaver a fitting send off as Eileen.
He will begin filming later this month for a brief stint to coincide with Sue’s send-off.
A source said: “It was a no brainer for Ryan to return when he was asked – it’s all for Sue.
“She’s like a second mum to him and he was willing to do anything to make her send off as special as she deserves it to be.
“He’s not acted for a while so it’s a bit daunting but he played Jason for so long that he’s looking forward to going back to the cobbles.”
Jason was last seen in 2016 but has been mentioned frequently over the years with news of his life in Thailand.
The actor first appeared on the cobbles in 2000 and stayed for 16 years before quitting the show.
He went on to appear in Aussie soap Neighbours and win Celebrity Big Brother.
Last year he took part in Dancing on Ice and was crowned champion.
In 2021 Ryan opened up about his struggles with his acting career and announced he had decided to retire.
“It’s so hard for me,” he said on the Mancs on the Mic podcast.
[bc_video account_id=”5067014667001″ application_id=”” aspect_ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”” caption=”Ryan Thomas says he’s quit acting after being rejected from auditions and trolls slammed his Neighbours performance” embed=”in-page” experience_id=”” height=”100%” language_detection=”” max_height=”360px” max_width=”640px” min_width=”0px” mute=”” padding_top=”56%” picture_in_picture=”” player_id=”default” playlist_id=”” playsinline=”” sizing=”responsive” video_id=”6237040546001″ video_ids=”” width=”640px”]“I started off acting, I started off in that game and I really lost the bug for it.
“I feel the reason for losing the bug is rejection and going to auditions and not getting them.”
Ryan also blamed trolling on social media for his decision.
He added: “I’ve never had that before because social media wasn’t around.
[authenticated-scripts src=”%3Cscript%20class%3D%22palin-poll%22%20src%3D%22https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thesun.co.uk%2Fpollingwidgets%2Fv3%2Fwidget.js%3Fquestion_id%3D108690%26game%3Dpolling%22%3E%3C%2Fscript%3E” type=”embedded” width=”100″ /]“I never got it in Corrie because I never had social media when I was in Corrie.
“If I did, it was at the end but I was so established there that people saw me as fixtures and fittings, so I never really got that sort of negative criticism.
“It happens in all aspects but I just found it really, really hard to deal with at first.
“I always think, ‘Oh, it’ll [the desire to act] come back at some point and maybe it will, and it’s still something that I have in my locker if I want to explore it again.
“Right now I’m really happy with the direction I’m going.”
But now he has decided to come out of retirement for a stint back on the cobbles for “second mum” Sue.
Sue announced she had quit Corrie after 25 years having vowed to “live fearlessly” after turning 60 last year.
“I’ve had 25 privileged years of working on Coronation Street,” she told The Sun earlier this year.
“The door is still firmly open but as I reached my 60th year, I decided it was time to embrace change, look for new adventures and live fearlessly.”
Sue gave bosses plenty of time to come up with a suitable exit for Eileen and brought back her sister Julie Carp for it.
However in a heartbreaking twist, Julie’s return is a final one with the iconic character facing a terminal cancer diagnosis.