“There’s a long way to go for them both…”

Hollyoaks spoilers follow.

Hollyoaks star Kieron Richardson has outlined his hopes for Ste Hay in his storyline with Rex Gallagher.

Ste has undergone a difficult period since the death of his husband, James Nightingale, with the resulting one-year time jump doing little to improve his state of wellbeing.

Recent scenes have seen Ste become convinced that James is very much still alive, with the character suspecting that Rex – with whom he had previously slept with – was holding James captive.

With Ste’s psychosis worsening, Richardson – who has played Ste since 2006 – teased the upcoming developments for his character, sharing that Ste becomes fully invested in believing a supposed conspiracy.

“We’re at the point where Ste has psychosis and doesn’t believe James is dead,” Richardson told Inside Soap. “He’s started seeing and hearing things, so in his head he thinks there’s a conspiracy. If he managed to survive the bomb, then perhaps James might have done, too.”

Whilst Ste is struggling on the Channel 4 soap, Richardson revealed that plenty of viewers have spoken about Ste and Rex’s peculiar relationship, with the actor teasing that there was plenty to come for the duo.

“There’s more to explore with the Ste and Rex situation… I see a lot on TikTok where the audience edit videos, and they want more and more. But there’s a long way to go for them both…

“At some point I’d like him [Ste] to be in a relationship with somebody and for them to be together and get up to no good, rather than it be a conflict. But I don’t know what the future holds.

“I’d hope that the Ste and Rex relationship would involve them getting together and becoming involved in crime or naughty things – rather than it being us cheating,” he continued, with the star adding that his working relationship with co-star Jonny Labey was “amazing.”

Hollyoaks airs on Mondays-Wednesdays with its Channel 4 streaming premiere at 7am, then an E4 broadcast the same night at 7pm. Full episodes are also released on YouTube a week after their Channel 4 release.