Home and Away releases first spoilers for the 2026 Season Return

When Home and Away returns to Australian screens on Monday 19th January, it’s a race against time to save those caught in the train crash.

Home and Away is currently on its annual summer break in Australia, but there’s not to wait, as it’s back on Seven in just one week’s time.

Things are set to pick up where we left them in November’s dramatic season finale, which saw a train derailment on the way to the aptly named Off the Rails music festival in Broken Hill.

After Remi (Adam Rowland) and Sonny (Ryan Bown) managed to convince local musician Eddie (Stephen Madsen) to join their new Back on Track record label, it wasn’t long before Sonny bagged their new signing his first gig – a slot at the prestigious Off the Rails music festival in Broken Hill.

In the final week, the trio set about perfecting Sonny’s set, and rounding up their friends to join them on a ‘party train’ to the outback, with the festival taking place some 1000km west of Summer Bay, near the border of New South Wales and South Australia.

Before the train departed from Yabbie Creek Station, there was a raucous ‘platform party’, where the Summer Bay residents got to mingle with the other guests who’s already been picked up from other regional stations before their journey west began.

Joining Remi, Sonny and Eddie for the festival were Justin (James Stewart) – who had recently rejoined the music label – as well as Lacey (Sophea Pennington), Mackenzie (Emily Weir), Dana (Ally Harris), and Jo (Maddison Brown).

Additionally, Abigail (Hailey Pinto) became an unexpected passenger when she got too drunk at the platform party and woke up to find herself on the moving train.

She had only planned to stick around for the pre-departure party, and was meant to be heading back to Summer Bay, where Mali (Kyle Shilling) had prepared her an anniversary surprise.

The platform party also gave us an introduction to two new faces – flirty passenger Isaac, played by Jordan Dulieu, and his mate Holden Dwyer, played by Lach Millar.

As the group set off on their journey and continued the party on board the train, none of them could imagine the tragedy that awaited them.

Before tragedy struck, Eddie got down on one knee and proposed to Jo, hoping for a second chance at a future together some two years after they broke up.

However, with Jo still harbouring feelings for Tane (Ethan Browne), who was safely back in Summer Bay, she hesitated and couldn’t give Eddie an answer.

Shortly afterwards, the train headed towards a tunnel, where a small group of teens were spraying graffiti. Spotting the train, they fled, leaving their bicycles sprawled across the track.

As the train struck the bikes, it derailed, sending the passengers flying.

As the season came to a close, all of the passengers on the train were flung to the floor, their conditions unclear, as the train – now on its side – came to a stop just outside the tunnel.

Now, Aussie magazine TV Week has given the first details of what’s in store in next week’s 2026 Season Return.

As the smoke begins to clear, the passengers on board are all fighting for their lives, and some are in worse conditions than others.

With most of the passengers knocked out in the impact, we see them slowly begin to regain consciousness.

Nurse Dana is one of the first on her feet, and she jumps into action as she carefully makes her way through the carriage checking on her friends and loved ones.

While Mackenzie and Abigail are both seemingly okay, as they wake up and support each other as they assess each others’ injuries, Remi’s fate is less clear. He’s lying motionless nearby with a large gash on his forehead.

However, it’s Jo and Sonny who are in the most danger. With Jo and muso Eddie having become separated from one another on the train after Eddie’s failed proposal, Eddie rushes to make his way up the train carriage in search of his girlfriend.

He finds her in a bad way, underneath a pile of rubble where part of the roof of the train has collapsed on top of her.

“Jo is trapped in the front car, a piece of the train roof pinning her down, and Eddie is trying to get to her through the debris and rubble,” Maddison Brown explains to TV Week.

Sonny is nearby, and he too is in serious trouble – he’s also trapped as a result of the collapsed roof, and soon realises that he’s unable to feel his legs.

As we’ve already covered in our 2026 Home and Away Spoilers article, Sonny is set to spend months in a wheelchair after the crash, with actor Ryan Bown having been spotted filming in a chair on numerous occasions in the latter half of last year.

While recent filming has seen him on crutches, suggesting that he’ll eventually recover from the injuries he sustains, he’s set to struggle with his reduced mobility, resulting in tensions between him and Remi, as they both battle with health problems in the new year.

With all the drama going on at the rail tunnel, it doesn’t take long for word of the accident to reach Summer Bay as the emergency services descend on the scene.

Sergeant David Langham (Jeremy Lindsay Taylor) and Senior Constable Cash (Nicholas Cartwright) are the first to hear about it, and they rush to the site, with David knowing that both of his daughters were on the train to the festival.

“Injured passengers and debris are scattered everywhere,” Jeremy tells TV Week. “It’s David and Cash’s job to secure the site, to allow safe and uninterrupted passage for Police Rescue to do their job.”

However, as the 2026 Season Return promo – which aired after November’s finale – has already shown, Tane (Ethan Browne) and Levi (Tristan Gorey) soon hear about the accident too, and the pair rush to the site of the accident.

They’ve both got loved ones inside too, and Levi is desperate to help Mackenzie, while Tane is worried for Jo, despite rejecting her advances in the final episodes of 2025, feeling like she was playing games with him after the return of her ex-boyfriend Eddie.

“David finds it difficult to do his job for several reasons,” Jeremy continues. “The stress of knowing his daughters are in there somewhere and that he also has to deal with Levi and Tane wanting to get in there against Police Rescue’s orders.”

Both Levi and Tane insist that they needs to get in and help, but Cash and the rescue team refuse.

“Deep down, David also wants to go in and help, but the bigger picture requires order,” he concludes.

Inside the carriage, it becomes clear that Jo is at risk of crush syndrome – where prolonged pressure on the body causes the release of dangerous toxins into the blood stream – and that she needs to be rescued fast.

However, freeing her could cause more of the fragile train to collapse, putting other trapped passengers in serious danger.

Ignoring David and Cash’s orders, Tane rushes to the other end of the tunnel, planning to get in and help without being stopped by Police Rescue, who are guarding the end where the train has emerged.

He comes across Justin, who’s unable to move, but it’s not long until the first responders manage to free him and Sonny and take the pair to hospital – with Sonny still unable to feel his legs.

As more debris drops from the ceiling, causing the train to shake, it becomes clear that everyone involved is running out of time.

Eddie, who has been trying to help Jo up until that points, panics and flees the train before the whole ceiling collapses.

With Eddie having abandoned Jo, it’s on Tane to take a huge risk before she experiences crush syndrome.

From outside, Levi shouts out: “Tane, get her out of there now!”

Tane lifts Jo from the rubble and carries her from the train as quickly as he can. However, as soon as he gets her outside, her condition takes a turn for the worse as she falls unconscious and goes into cardiac arrest.

“We know someone dies, but we don’t know who,” Maddison Brown previously told TV Week, hinting that we’ll be saying goodbye to at least one character when we return to Summer Bay in 2026.

As the season came to a close, Back to the Bay‘s bets were on either Eddie – as actor Stephen Madsen hasn’t been seen filming in recent months – or flirtatious guest character Isaac – who featured unusually heavily in the train scenes. But could there be a curveball?

With more passengers still trapped inside, and with the rescue team placing a sheet over a body on a stretcher, who won’t survive the crash?

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Here’s the full spoilers for next week’s Home and Away episodes in Australia:

Monday 19th January (Episode 8636)

David leads a rescue operation. Tane and Levi risk their lives for love. Who will make it out of the trainwreck alive?

Tuesday 20th January (Episode 8637)

Multiple lives hang in the balance. Tane’s in a life-and-death race against the clock. A Summer Bay favourite receives life-changing news.

Wednesday 21st January (Episode 8638)

TBC

Thursday 22nd January (Episodes 8639-8641)

TBC

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