Lucas Hay returns to Hollyoaks with a bombshell on his lips, declaring to his sister Leah that he believes he is responsible for the death of Rex Gallagher. The teen had been absent from the village since March, when he was imprisoned after attempting to kill his father Ste, who had slept with his ex-boyfriend Dillon.
Lucas Hay returns Hollyoaks alongside Martin Frost’s son
Lucas did not arrive back alone. He rode into the village on a scooter alongside Xander, the son of Martin Frost, the man who shot Rex dead. It was Leah who first spotted the connection: she found a picture on social media showing Lucas with Xander, then pleaded with Imran to help her track her brother down. Imran, given everything the pair had been through, refused.
Xander wasted no time making his presence felt. He marched through the village with Lucas scrambling to keep up, on the lookout for Cindy, whom he believes holds answers about what happened to his father. When that lead did not immediately pan out, Xander turned his attention to Gemma, confronting her and accusing her of having a hand in Martin’s death. The confrontation threw up a revelation of its own: Gemma had previously dated Martin. When Xander asked why she ended things, Gemma’s reply was stark, that Martin was no longer useful to her.
For his part, Lucas made clear he had not come back willingly. He told Xander he did not want to be there and did not want to see his dad. Yet he found himself drawn to the garage where Rex died, standing in the space and hearing what seemed to be his former stepfather’s voice.
Rex’s death: the backstory behind a complicated grief
Rex’s loss continues to sit heavily over Ste, who is still grieving his husband. Rex arrived in Hollyoaks in June 2024, according to the Hollyoaks Wiki, and quickly became a central figure in several of the village’s biggest storylines. His background carried considerable weight: he was the biological son of the late Grace Black and the late Fraser Black, two of the soap’s most enduring and complex characters.
Martin shot Rex dead before Martin himself subsequently met his end, leaving a tangle of unanswered questions around the circumstances of both deaths. Those questions are now pulling Lucas and Xander back into the village, whether either of them wanted to return or not.
After bumping into Leah outside the garage, Lucas was brought to Imran’s flat, where Leah asked if he could stay the night rather than risk bringing him home. Imran agreed. Once the siblings were alone, however, Leah pressed Lucas about his relationship with Xander, asking directly whether Xander was taking advantage of him in any way.
Lucas protested, and then came the moment that will have viewers reaching for theories. ‘I’m the reason why Rex is dead,’ he told her, apparently without prompting. The show has left it entirely open as to what he means by that, and how a teenager who was in prison at the time of Rex’s shooting could believe himself responsible for what happened.
Meanwhile, earlier in the episode, Ste’s relapse had set the day in motion. Leah discovered her father had fallen back into old habits and turned to Imran for support, which was what led her to show him the photograph of Lucas and Xander in the first place. Ste’s grief, Rex’s death, Martin’s past, Gemma’s secrets and now Lucas’s confession are all converging, and Xander’s arrival suggests the pressure is only going to build.
Hollyoaks airs on Mondays to Wednesdays, with episodes streaming first on Channel 4 at 7am before broadcasting the same evening on E4 at 7pm.
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