Hollyoaks star Owen Warner explains Romeo Nightingale exit
Hollyoaks spoilers follow.
Hollyoaks will air Romeo Nightingale's exit scenes in upcoming episodes, as he decides to go on the run.
It was revealed last month that Owen Warner would be leaving the show after six years in the role of Romeo.
Romeo is currently serving a prison sentence for the murder of his girlfriend Rayne Royce, but a near-death experience will see everything change.
Aware that he's not safe in prison, after James framed fellow inmate Kyle for Ella's death, Romeo decides to take drastic action with the help of his dad and Peri.
Here, Owen reveals all on the dramatic plot and how he feels about leaving Hollyoaks behind.
Romeo recently pleaded guilty to Rayne's murder. Can you tell us about that?
"The audience didn't quite understand why Romeo pleaded guilty, which I get, but the thing is he's in a mad situation. He’s killed his girlfriend and lied about it for months, his head is all over the place. He doesn't know who to trust, he doesn't know who's going to give him the best piece of advice.
"He’s thinking he's been doing the wrong thing for so long, so he just wants to do the right thing. Obviously, there's other ways we could've gone about it, but he just doesn't want any guilt – he wants to 'fess up to everything.
"I've been playing that guilt for so long, it gets quite heavy to play with Romeo having to lie to people all the time so when it finally came out he was like, 'Right I can own up to it now'."
After being in prison for a short while, Romeo is attacked. What was it like to film those scenes?
"I've just been told that the attack looks quite brutal. It felt quite brutal when we were filming it. Kane, played by Ben Castle-Gibb, is a great actor so it was great doing stuff with him but it was also quite scary.
"You're filming in the sets that look like a prison, and then I'm doing scenes like where I'm actually getting scared of the guy and he stabs me, it's quite harrowing to film. It's very realistic and this sort of stuff actually happens in real life. My heart goes out to Romeo. He can't catch a break, he thinks he's doing the right thing and next thing you know he's getting stabbed."
When Peri quizzes him on why Kane attacked him, Romeo decides to cover for his dad and not tell her the truth. Why does he do this?
"I think he's lied for him because throughout the whole time when he was lying to everyone else about the fact that he killed Rayne, James knew. His dad stuck by his side, he helped him and advised him and he didn't judge him.
"His dad listened to him, pulled him in for a hug and said 'we're going to get through this', there was no judgement there. I think Romeo's in a position where, 'who am I to judge if he's not judged me?'. It's a nice moment because the fact that he doesn’t grass on James just shows a bit of growth in him.
"He's matured, he's learned his lesson, he's there for the people that are there for him. It was a nice full circle moment. Maybe the old Romeo would have ratted him out and been angry and fallen out with him and not spoken to him for months but the new Romeo has got nothing to lose. He was like, 'You know what, I've got you'."
Romeo is blindsided when James tells him the escape plan, does he want to go on the run?
"Romeo trusts his dad so much. I don't think he wants to but the fact that his dad has advised him to do it makes him think that it's his only hope. He knows that if he goes back to prison, there's a chance he might get attacked again so he might not make it the second time.
"It's either he goes back to prison doing what he thinks is the right thing and risking his life, or escape, which isn't the right thing to do, but it's the only way he can survive really. Romeo loves his life, he wants to live on.
"He sees it as a last ditch attempt because he's going to prison anyways so what's the worst that can happen? He escapes and gets caught for escaping, gets a few more years, what's he got to lose?"
Peri also helps Romeo escape and puts her job on the line to do so. How has their relationship grown?
"It was strange when they first got feelings for each other, obviously Peri is Juliet's ex-girlfriend so it wasn't giving the recipe for a successful relationship straight away. But they became close because they loved Juliet, they have the same morals and they're a similar sort of character.
"They just wanted to be happy and they made each other happy. They both deserve to be happy. It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if Romeo wasn't a murderer – would they have found happiness together?
"It's just unfortunate that it could come to end with him attempting to escape. She was able to demonstrate her love by helping him run away which she wouldn’t have been able to in any other situation because she's literally put her job on the line, and her going to prison on the line, to help Romeo escape. It was the best demonstration of love that either of them could have done."
Can you tease Romeo's reunion with Prince?
"If you're expecting a reunion of two best mates that haven't seen each other for a while then you're wildly misguided. It's not like that at all. Obviously, Prince is fuming. Last time he saw Romeo, it was in the visiting room where Romeo was full of guilt and Prince full of anger.
"Prince is still going to have that anger, it's just whether Romeo can calm him down and whether he wants to calm him down or if he's just going to try and escape that situation. It could go so many different ways but all we know is that Prince is angry and Romeo is trying to escape."
How do you feel about saying goodbye to Hollyoaks?
"It's a bit sad to be honest. When you're busy on set and you're there all the time the people you're working with become your family, they are the people you see every day all day and you embrace them.
"I love everyone there. I have so much time for Hollyoaks it will always have a place in my heart and being without that, it's sort of like, what now? It's been such a big part of my life for so long, it's starting to sink in now I'm missing a lot of people. I miss the work environment.
"I miss being on set with everyone. I miss hearing Scouse voices. It feels like home and it feels like I'm moving out – it feels like I've grown up and I'm leaving home now."
Hollyoaks streams first online via Channel 4 each weekday at 7.30pm. Episodes then air on E4 the following day, before getting their YouTube premiere a week after that.
Selected omnibus episodes are available via Prime Video.
Read more Hollyoaks spoilers on our dedicated homepage.
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