The Dales will be going through a lot of changes as we head into 2025

It’s never a quiet day in Emmerdale, and fans of the ITV soap are in for a turbulent new year amid reports of characters being axed from the show.

Susan Cookson joined the show in 2019 taking on the role of Wendy Posner. She appeared in the village to get answers from Victoria Sugden who was pregnant with her grandchild. Victoria became pregnant with her child after Wendy’s eldest son Lee raped her in a “harrowing twist” on the show.

Viewers have also witnessed Wendy settling in the Dales after beginning a relationship with Bob Hope who have had their fair share of ups and downs with Wendy’s cheating scandal in 2023.

Allegedly, the ITV soap is having to make cuts and fans are already feeling the changes with Dean Andrews (who played Will Taylor) and Daisy Campbell (who played Amelia Spencer) leaving the village in the last few weeks.

Susan has reportedly already filmed her final scenes, with a source telling The Sun she’s “devastated” that her time on Emmerdale is coming to an end.

The source continued: “She’s really well liked in the cast but unfortunately budget cuts mean hard decisions need to be made and that resulted in Susan being one of a number of cast leaving,

“ITV is going through a cash crisis with the soaps and the money just isn’t there to pay for everyone any more.”

With rumours swirling, fans have taken to social media to share their thoughts on the supposed departure ahead of them. On X (formerly known as Twitter), @Emmerdale2dae wrote: “The news of Wendy’s exit sadly doesn’t come as a surprise for the simple reason that she’s generally just a background character. She has no real storyline and hasn’t had for a long while now. Shame really she’s a good actress.”

Wendy was somewhat of a “Marmite character” with some viewers taking the news of the character leaving as a good thing. @6WATERYLANE penned: “HEARING ON MY TIMELINE THAT WENDY IS FINALLY LEAVING EMMERDALE”.

@Mili_Mo74 added: “I love the fact, that Robert doesn’t have to live in the same village with Wendy when he finally comes home.”

Robert Sugden was sent to prison in 2019 after he accidentally killed Lee after learning about the attack on his sister Victoria. Since leaving the soap, actor Ryan Hawley has gone on to star in Silent Witness, All Creatures Great and Small, as well as Casualty.

Emmerdale, 7.30PM, weeknights on ITV1, STV and available on ITVX.