Emmerdale fans were left surprised watching last night’s episode, as a character returned after nine months.

Evan Fletcher, Dawn and Billy Fletcher’s (Olivia Bromley and Jay Kontzle) son, was in the background of a conversation that took place yesterday between Dawn and Kim Tate (Claire King).

While Evan played with his toys, Dawn chatted to Kim about how it finally feels like she can relax a little bit, as her divorce to Billy was now through, and Evan’s cancer treatment was over.

The character, played by Malachi McKenzie, was born in 2023 which means he’s well into his toddler phase now, but because it’s been about nine months since we last saw him, fans got quite the shock noticing how much Evan has grown.

Penny expressed her surprise on X and wrote: ‘I didn’t even know Evan could walk yet, he was a babe in arms last time we saw him’.

Another Emmerdale fan said: ‘A Baby Evan appearance ! He’s gotten so big.’

Ryan added: ‘WOW Evan has shot up!’.

In disbelief, this audience member simply said: ‘evan?? so big???’.

A few months after Evan was born, he rolled off his changing table and ended up getting rushed to hospital. There, a doctor noticed bruising on Evan’s body, but told Dawn and Billy that he would recover from the fall soon.

A couple of days later though, Dawn found a bruise on Evan’s leg and couldn’t explain where it came from. Back in A&E, blood tests were taken, and Evan was later diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia.

The little baby spent the rest of 2024 in and out of hospital. To protect Evan from infections, Dawn, Billy, Clemmie and Lucas had to socially distance themselves from the rest of the Home Farm clan.

Evan continued to have appointments in 2025, but slowly began to recover.

The youngster has now completed his treatment, bringing some much needed relief for Dawn and Billy.

Also in yesterday’s episode, Dawn told Kim about how she’d like to have a baby with Joe Tate (Ned Porteous).

Last week, Dawn was late on her period and she began to wonder if she was pregnant.