EastEnders stalwart Sonia Fowler seems to have found love again in Walford but her boyfriend Reiss Colwell is hiding a devastating secret about his true identity and relationship status.
In recent scenes, Reiss (Jonny Freeman) made a secret phone call requesting to speak to his wife while an oblivious Sonia (Natalie Cassidy) waited for him in the next room.
Reiss isn't the only Walford resident with a not-so-secret wife with Rocky Cotton's (Brian Conley) past nuptials recently being exposed however, some EastEnders fans suspect the newcomer could be hiding a heartbreaking secret surrounding his wife with history looking to repeat itself on the square.
Writing in an EastEnders forum, one Reddit user wrote: "Rocky may have walked out on his wife, [but] I think Reiss's circumstances are different."
"I think Reiss' wife lives in an assisted living facility, while this may be a bit depressing it is a story that to the best of my knowledge EE hasn't tackled before," they added.
Another fan pointed out this would be a similar story to one involving Jane Beale (Laurie Brett) who was previously married to David Collins, who suffered from Huntington's disease and died in 2004. She subsequently married and later divorced Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt).
The fan said: "Jane Beale had a husband who was in a hospice when she first joined the square, I think his name was David. I'm fairly sure Ian met him too. I think you're probably right though. It'll be nice to see him and Sonia have a more serious storyline and cement their relationship."
EastEnders is known for tackling big hard-hitting issues and soap bosses have never been afraid of introducing characters to raise awareness of important subjects.
The fan went on to explain their theory in more detail, suggesting the BBC soap could use the introduction of Reiss' wife as a way of bringing in a Covid-focussed storyline.
They continued: "The theory concerns Reiss' wife being in some kind of living facility but instead of it being Huntington's Disease like Jane's husband, instead Reiss' wife is perhaps STILL covering from Covid in a similar circumstance that Kate Garraway's husband Derek is in.
"I thought about it like how Lola's Brain Tumour is mirroring the death of Tom Parker, it would be an interesting route to take the story but it just depends on what [executive producer] Chris Clenshaw has planned."
Got any theories or thoughts on the storyline? Let us know in the comments section below.
