Neighbours’ Executive Producer discusses the show’s final months

With Neighbours set to end once again in December 2025, Back to the Bay caught up with Executive Producer Jason Herbison to discuss what’s in store.

In 2022, Neighbours‘ Executive Producer Jason Herbison faced the challenge of bringing the show to an end after 37 years.

A touching finale saw Scott (Jason Donovan) and Charlene (Kylie Minogue) return to Erinsborough, while Guy Pearce reprised the role of Mike Young to reunite with childhood sweetheart Jane Harris (Annie Jones).

Then, a little over a year later, Jason was tasked with bringing Neighbours back to screens, after Amazon picked it up to launch its new Freevee streaming platform.

In September 2023, “Neighbours: The Next Chapter” began with the shock wedding of Toadie (Ryan Moloney) and Terese (Rebekah Elmaloglou), and the introduction of the Varga-Murphy family.

Sadly, following the closure of Amazon Freevee earlier this year, it was announced that Amazon had decided not to renew the show, and it would once again come to an end.

The final scenes are being shot in July, and will air in December of this year.

With less than seven months before Neighbours leaves our screens again, Back to the Bay sat down with Jason Herbison for an exclusive chat at the show’s Nunawading studios, where he revealed what’s in store for the final months.

---

With Neighbours set to end again in December, what can you tease about what’s in store for the final months?

“Well, lots of big storylines.

“There’s a big story for the Rodwells that will be a big challenge for the household, lots of twists and turns, lots of drama and lots of impact for everyone in the street. That will be a massive story right until the end.

“The Varga-Murphys have some very big storylines coming up as well.

“I’m often asked, are we ever going to meet the Linwells [the dangerous builders from whom the Varga-Murphys had to escape after Cara exposed their dodgy practices]? Yes, maybe we will, but it might not be exactly the story that people are expecting.

“But there’s definitely another chapter of the Linwells to be told, which also very neatly dovetails into some other stories.

“As we get to the last three months of the show, there are lots of big stories that actually all intertwine with each other, which I think is the best possible Neighbours story.”

You went out with a real bang on the last finale, and it’s going to be difficult to top. How are you going to end things this time?

“I’ve already written it, and I would say that I definitely am not going to try and compete with that finale.

“I haven’t picked up the phone to Jason [Donovan] and Kylie [Minogue] and Guy [Pierce] again. I’ve left them alone, but it will be very similar in tone.

“I think it’s a very warm, hopeful tone, but it’s also a little bit different. There are things about it that I think might remind people of the previous finale, but it’s also very different.”

When it was announced that Amazon weren’t renewing the show, you referred to it as being “rested”. Do you still hope that we’ll return to Erinsborough one day?

“Very possible. I think, as has been well documented, the show’s not ending because people aren’t still enjoying it. We still have an amazing following.

“Unfortunately, the closure of Amazon Freevee did mean the end of the show. But having said that, at the end of this chapter of the show, they were terrific and gave us lots of notice on it as well, which is as much as you can possibly hope for. It wasn’t something that took anyone by surprise.

“We had a lot of notice and we could see that this was probably going to happen. So, very hopeful.

“I think with Neighbours, it’s such a popular show, it means so much to so many people, and there are so many different ways it could come back. But maybe not necessarily the way it is right now.”

When the show last ended in July 2023, a number of characters departed in the final months. Will we be saying goodbye to any more characters before the finale?

“There’s a few comings and goings, which is always natural with contracts coming to an end and there is always a turnover of characters.

“So, yes, you will see a couple of departures and you’ll definitely see a couple of new characters come in.

“Certainly at least one returning character from recent times. It’s a mix.”

The last ending of the show finished with a wedding. Are there any more weddings or funerals coming up?

“Possibly, possibly!”

Viewers were surprised when JJ asked Felix to leave just after the pair had accepted each other as father and son. Was that always the plan?

“I originally hoped that Felix would become a regular character. But the actor who plays him, James [Beaufort], has a very busy life away from the show.

“So I would have loved him to come back for much longer. And that storyline that you’re talking about, I think the end of him crept up on us.

“I was disappointed not to do more with him and JJ. But the chance may come again…”

Cara has been through so much recently with her baby dream coming to an abrupt end. She recently mentioned possibly adopting Thomas. Will her desire for another baby be re-explored?

“Cara and Remi have a really big challenge coming up that is going to really impact their relationship. And Cara also will have another family member arrive before the end of the series, which will also have a big impact on their household.

“So in terms of her baby ambition, that will take a little bit of a back seat to all of these other big things that are coming her way.”

It’s taken a long time for Aaron to get to explore a romantic relationship with Rhett. Why did he have to wait so long?

“Well, he had a one or two false starts, didn’t he?

“We obviously wanted to have the character have a grieving period for David but his cup is about to runneth over. So he’ll be making up for the drought.

“He certainly has a lot of romance on the cards which will take up a lot of his time. Some challenges as well. But he’s on a good path.

“There’s no more tragedy for him, he’s been through enough.”

Is there a reason you decided not to kill off Toadie and Mel during the 40th anniversary week, considering they were leaving anyway?

“Oh, I wouldn’t kill Toadie off. I couldn’t kill Toadie off. I couldn’t.”

Why did you choose Nell to be the one who killed Seb? Will we see any more of how her trauma has affected her?

“I remember we were sitting around the story room one day trying to think of an interesting person who could have killed Seb and why, and Lisa Maroun, who’s one of our story team, suggested Nell.

“We thought about it and we thought about how Nell has been through a lot of trauma in her life and we thought it was an interesting story to tell.

“Obviously, the viewers saw that it was self-defence and she didn’t really mean to do it, and she didn’t realise she’d done it at the time, but yeah, it just was an interesting fresh twist that we liked.

“She makes some decisions in the future about her future, but she gets over it.”

Will Trevor and Haz finally be reunited?

“Quite possibly. Trevor’s been a bit of a handful on set, not just in the storyline.

“Trevor probably prefers to be a dog in real life rather than an actor, which is why you’ve seen less and less of Trevor. He is a dog, so he’s entitled to be a dog.

“I don’t think he chose to be an actor. So yes, Haz and Trevor will be reunited. Absolutely.”

Were there any major storylines that you had planned but were no longer able to do?

“There’s always a lot of stories that we want to do or we’re thinking about doing.

“But we had a bit of warning on [the cancellation], so that very much impacted my thinking. I didn’t want to start anything that I didn’t feel I could satisfactorily wind up in that time.

“Certainly there are stories coming up that could have gone a lot longer. But I was careful not to begin or launch into anything that I wasn’t going to have any room to see through.”

What’s been your highlight of the Amazon era?

“Lots of things. There are storylines that I feel very attached to or very close to, a bit like viewers. Other stories I’m not so attached to or close to.

“But in recent times, I’ve really loved the Amanda story. I’ve always wanted to bring back Bryony Behets.

“And I was really glad that we came up with an idea that worked with the Darcy story as well, because he’s another one that we’ve been talking about bringing back for a long time, but I could never quite have the right story for it.

“I didn’t want to bring him back and just have him be Darcy again or Finn 2.0 or something. So when it worked out that Amanda’s dates could work in with his, I liked that as a fresh story.

“The best stories for me are the stories that impact a lot of characters. The Darcy story had a huge impact on the Kennedy household, whilst Amanda had a huge impact on Jane’s household.

“I just loved that those two characters impacted a lot of people. And then Chelsea was part of it too, which impacted Paul and Terese’s story. So it was a big story that brought in a lot of people.”

Are there any returnees you would have loved to have brought back but didn’t have the time or opportunity to?

“I have to say that having done this job now for 14 years or something, I’ve pretty much brought back everyone I’ve ever wanted to.

“Perhaps there were times where I might have wanted someone to come back for longer, or have them come back at a different time.

“But for me, there aren’t many stones unturned. I’ve pretty much been able to bring everyone back.”

How does it feel saying goodbye to the show after being involved for so long?

“It was my first job out of high school and I worked on the show in the early 90s, then I went away and did lots of other things and eventually came back to it.

“It’s mixed feelings. I’m really proud of the show, really proud of how long it’s been on. I’m proud that we’ve still got a very loyal, loving fan base.

“I think we do punch above our weight a lot in terms of how quickly we make the show and how we get it done, and our ambition for the show is always quite high.

“So, personally, mixed feelings. But I’ve also worked on it for a long time, so I’m excited to do other things as well.

“But who knows? Who knows what will happen?”

Neighbours airs Monday–Thursday on Network 10 and 10 Peach in Australia, and on Prime Video in the UK.

---