EastEnders fans hopeful Jac Jossa will return as Lauren Branning’s house burns down in New Zealand

EASTENDERS fans are hopeful former star Jac Jossa will return as Lauren Branning as it’s revealed her house has burned down in New Zealand.

Her ex-boyfriend and baby daddy Peter Beale tries to get some money from his dad but is unsuccessful meaning Lauren and Louis might have to come home. 

At the beginning of the episode Peter gets a frantic phone call from his ex who tells him she left a pan on the stove and the house has burned down. 

Distraught, Peter tells his dad Ian that Lauren and Louis have nothing and he needs money to send to them. 

Ian promises his son he’ll help but after reassessing his finances, the crooked chip shop owner tells him he can’t. 

Peter is floored as he worries about Lauren and his son and what they’re going to do, which lead many fans to speculate whether the character could return to the Square to get back on her feet. 

One wrote: "i’m more convinced that lauren will come back soon"

“So Lauren and Louie are broke, is this an opening for them to come back to,” wondered another. 

While a third excitedly penned: “They should bring Lauren back permanently”

Lauren had told Peter she didn’t want her dad Max Branning to know but Peter’s brother Bobby lets it slip when he sees him later. 

Jake Wood, who plays Max, recently revealed to his fans that he only had three weeks left of filming before his character leaves Walford – so perhaps he heads off to NZ to see his daughter?

Earlier this year Jac, 27, teased she WILL return to EastEnders as Lauren Branning "in the next five years". 

Jac played the character from 2010 until her departure in 2018, when Lauren fled to New Zealand with husband Peter Beale and son Louis.

"I absolutely love EastEnders, love the people, the production and I absolutely love Lauren Branning with all my heart.

"It doesn't feel like it was a goodbye forever, definitely not, well not from my end anyway. I would love to go back someday," she told the MailOnline.

"I could hobble back in on my walking stick one day."