Tim Kano, who plays Leo Tanaka on Neighbours, has teased new tensions between his character and Terese Willis.
Leo is now mourning the loss of his on-again, off-again girlfriend Britney Barnes (Montana Cox) in the recent storm calamity.
Terese (Rebekah Elmaloglou) had already blamed herself for what happened, knowing she might have evacuated the Flamingo Bar faster before the telegraph pole collided with it.
Terese was reassured by Chloe Brennan (April Rose Pengilly), who pointed out that the timeframes in question would have made no difference.
Tim detailed the impact of Britney’s death to Digital Spy as follows: “Leo goes through several stages of sorrow, and there is obviously a sense of blame when someone’s death could have been prevented.
“Looking at the circumstances of the storm, the tragedy at the Flamingo Bar could have been avoided if safety precautions had been taken. And who better to run Lassiters than Terese Willis?
“She had an opportunity to leave the pub earlier than it was, but she was preoccupied with her own personal problems.
“Leo is on a vendetta against Terese, and he wants someone to pay for it. As a genuine Robinson would, he ends up performing his own study by sneaking around to see what else may have been done.
“When the conclusion comes out that it could have been Terese’s fault, he definitely sees red and really goes for her.”
Tim noted the terrible timing of the occurrence, noting that Leo and Britney had only recently begun to work over their previous troubles and look forward to the future.
He told us: “It’s heartbreaking for Leo. He’d started envisioning this future with a family, managing this gorgeous vineyard, and having this amazing future together.
“Leo let his guard down around Britney, which makes her death even harder for him.”
Asked whether he would have liked Britney to stay for longer, Tim replied: “I’d loved working with Montana. It was her first acting gig, but she really grew into the role. We had so much fun and did so many night shoots together.
“As Tim, I would have liked for her to stay longer and examine the family dynamics. It would have been lovely to have seen that blossom last a little longer.
“But in saying that, it’s been a really good opportunity for me as an actor to explore these other avenues that I haven’t really been able to touch on with Leo before. We’re showing him grieving as a single father and losing the love of his life.
“It’s been trying and testing for me to explore those emotions. It was a catch-22 for sure! I joked with one of the producers and asked if we could bring in Britney’s evil twin sister so we could bring Montana back! But because I really liked Montana as a person, that helped with the grief that I had to play with losing her.”