Emmerdale confirms huge return in Zak Dingle episode as family left reeling

Emmerdale has finally confirmed which character has returned to the ITV soap joining the Dingle family, with Thursday's early release episode on ITVX confirming who it is

Emmerdale has revealed the return of a Dingle after weeks of speculation on the ITV soap.

Thursday's episode dropped on ITVX in the morning ahead of airing on TV as normal. The special episode sees the Dingles and other villagers gather to say goodbye to Zak Dingle after his sad death.

As his funeral arrives, spoilers had revealed the family would be left in shock as a long-lost relative makes a comeback. Cast members had teased it was a familiar face and someone viewers knew.

It was teased to be a former character who had already been on the show, while they were not identified. Now the name of the character has finally been revealed as the return featured in Thursday's episode released in the morning.

The Mirror has chosen not to name the character in question as to not spoil it for the many soap fans still tuning in in the evening. With content having already been shared by soap fans online before episodes had aired on TV, not everyone was keen on the move for the episodes to drop early.

Amid fans being divided, we don't doubt many fans have raced to ITVX on Thursday morning to find out the identity of the mystery returnee. For those that do want to know who it is, they can head to the episode now - while those watching the episode later on will find out this evening when the episode airs at 7:30PM on ITV1 and ITVX.

It comes as one character appeared to be ruled out as the returnee on Wednesday night in a sad twist. Suggestion online had sparked theories of a return for Cain Dingle's daughter Debbie Dingle, after a cast list hinted at the twist. She's been living with her grandfather Zak in Scotland ever since her village exit, and she hasn't been onscreen for a while now.

Fans wanting a Debbie return will have to wait though it seems, as the character confirmed she would not be attending the service and would not be returning to the village. So it seems Debbie is not the big return airing this week despite speculation.

In a scene on Wednesday night, Cain called his wife Moira Dingle after arriving in Scotland. He shared the news that Debbie would not return home with them.

Moira was heard asking Cain: "So Debbie is not gonna go? No I know it's her choice." The call then broke up and Moira ended the phone call, with her relaying the sad information to her son Matty Barton.

As Matty asked: "Is Debbie not coming back for the funeral?" Moira told him: "She’s told Cain that she can't face it, it has hit her hard." It followed Debbie's mother Charity Dingle being concerned for her daughter when she struggled to get in contact with her after learning of Zak's passing.

Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX, with an hour-long episode on Thursdays. * Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on TikTok, Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads.