EastEnders star Thomas Law has teased that Peter Beale has ‘unfinished business’ with Max Branning ahead of Jake Wood’s permanent return to the show.

Max returned to the BBC soap earlier this month for the first time since 2021, and the show revealed he was having an affair with Zoe Slater.

Max grew furious when she ditched him after borrowing £5,000, unaware that a private investigator who claimed to know about her son had assaulted her.

Viewers will be on the edge of their seats when Max shows up at his daughter Lauren Branning’s wedding ceremony to Peter next week.

During his previous tenure in Walford, the court initially found Max guilty of murdering Peter’s sister Lucy Beale, but later revealed her half-brother Bobby Beale as the true killer.

Another issue facing Max is Peter’s mum Cindy Beale’s hatred of the Brannings, with her blaming him for the death of her son Steven Beale.

Addressing Max’s return, Peter actor Thomas told Digital Spy: “There’s unfinished business there, absolutely. They do have a nice first engagement when they see each other, although Max comes in at a terrible time!

“But I think that’s the first and only time that they’ll be civil with each other, because Max has done a lot of things wrong to Peter’s family, which has caused issues between the Beales and the Brannings. Long may that continue, for the drama in the show!”

He added: “I would say Peter, now knowing that Max is back, wants revenge for things that happened when he was a kid and for everything Max has done to Lucy.

“Peter has plenty of reasons to be annoyed at Max, so if Max pushes too far, he’ll land in trouble — and Thomas said it was great to play that with Jake [Wood, who plays Max].”

“Thomas said filming with Jake felt like old times, even though Jake quit the soap in 2020 after Max’s affair with Linda Carter came to light.”

Thomas said: “It’s been really good. He hasn’t changed a bit! I would say Jake has come back very prepared and he’s very excited.

“Max has got a lot of people to upset and a lot of bridges to burn. It’s quite exciting to see how he’s being so disruptive.

“I’m definitely interested to see the scenes we’ve got coming up.”