Hollyoaks star fuels rumours he’s set to quit soap after fans fear exit

A Hollyoaks star has teased a new chapter in his life, possibly hinting at a departure from the soap with a poignant social media post.

Oscar Curtis joined the Channel 4 programme in 2023, as a recast for William Hall’s role as Lucas Hay, the son of Ste Hay and Amy Burns.

After rumours have been swirling that it may be Lucas’ last days on Hollyoaks after some difficult storylines, Oscar has hinted at “packing up” and moving on.

In an Instagram story, he shared an image of a box with his personal items, on the floor next to a bed. He wrote: “Packing up… gotta keep the essentials with me.”

It’s unclear where Oscar could be heading, but fans have been wondering whether his character’s time on the soap is coming to an end, after storylines hinted Lucas could be leaving the village.

Just weeks ago, Oscar revealed Lucas’ future on the soap after his character was jailed for taking his dad Ste (played by Kieron Richardson) hostage.

The troubled teen has been involved in some harrowing storylines, attacking his father and stalking his ex Dillon Ray (played by Nathaniel Dass) after their break-up.

He was left devastated over Christmas when it came to light that Ste and Dillon had been having an affair behind his back, leading to an explosive showdown.

“I just wanted to do the whole story justice,” he later told Metro. “With the whole Ste, Dillon Lucas thing, we had to pull it out of the bag. I really had to dig deep for it but it’s those kind of scenes that as an actor you really want.”

The storyline led to Lucas’ arrest, with the character now considering his plea. Oscar went on to hint that Lucas will “want to change his environment” fast, and could go along with what Dillon wants him to do, which is to plea guilty after visiting him in jail and insisting he does the right thing and accepts responsibility.

He teased to the publication: “I don’t think Lucas will want to stay where he is. He’s put in certain situations by different characters and he’s got this internal battle of ‘do I do the right thing and serve out my sentence?’ or ‘do I go down this other route which has been presented to me?”

He added: “I think it would be important to understand why Lucas is acting the way he’s acting, because on the surface it seems like he’s acting out and that he’s crazy but if you take back some of the layers… his actions aren’t just but they do make sense.

“I think it would be really good if Hollyoaks had a storyline where we see the internal workings of Lucas’ mind and see how it functions – the reason why he acts like this, why he lovebombs and gets attached to characters and puts everything on them.”

In the past, Oscar has been part of a powerful coming out scene and a difficult brain tumour diagnosis, for which he was widely praised by fans. However, fans are now fearing his exit, taking to Reddit to predict if it may be coming about soon.

Lucas has been a part of some difficult storylines (Image: Channel 4)

One fan wondered: “Lucas will be sectioned at psych ward and stay there for weeks or months. He will be on temporary leave and come back as a whole new person.”

Another disagreed, writing: “Looking at some of the crimes some characters have committed and some sticking around for years, I don’t think there’s any reason to believe Lucas will be leaving. He might do temporary and then come back. I can see Lucas going on a similar path to Sienna.”