Neighbours star Tim Kano has hinted at a return to the TV soap after it was given a broadcast lifeline.
Fans were shocked and saddened when the long running drama was axed last year, only to be given a green light with a new broadcast partner some months later.
The new season will air later this year, returning to Channel 10 locally with just a few of the cast members announced.
Kano, who played Leo Tanaka on Neighbours for six years until the show was shelved in 2022, was careful with his words when asked if he would be back.
“I am tightly lipped about it but it is really exciting,” Kano said as he boarded a Virgin Australia Pride Flight to Sydney. “There will be a few announcements next week about what is happening, the new cast and the future of the show, it is just awesome.”
Kano was on the Melbourne Virgin Australia Pride Flight, heading to his second Mardi Gras. He took part in the parade a few years back with his Neighbours cast members.
Of his own sexuality, Kano said: “I’ve never really thought about it, I am a bit of everything I guess and I am definitely here to support Pride and the community.”
Neighbours was known for pushing boundaries and during the marriage equality debate was at the fore of the issue, featuring a same sex couple marrying on screen.
“It was groundbreaking and on the fore of Australian television in terms of inclusion, which is why it is so great to a part of in terms of diversity and sexuality,” he said.
“It is iconic and it is really important that it is coming back.”
Kano was one of hundreds of guests to fly in to Sydney for the 45th annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras as World Pride is hosted in the Harbour City.
Rainbow love took to the Australian skies as Virgin Australia Pride Flights flew to Sydney from major capital cities across the country.
Packed planes from Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, and San Francisco in the US, were the place to be as punters made their way to the Harbour City for Sydney World Pride and the 45th annual Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade.
“I celebrate pride because so many people before me couldn’t,” said Nova radio and TV personality Angie Kent, who identifies as pansexual. “I celebrate Pride because it means being able to live authentically. That feeling of being safe and supported is like no other. I’ve spent so much of my life unsure and out of place and when I’m with my queers I feel my most fierce, weird and fabulous self.”
Virgin planes flew to Sydney from Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane and even San Francisco in the United States as the airline partners with United.
Among the celebrity names on board the various Virgin Australia Pride Flights were Heartbreak High stars Angie Kent, Asher Yasbincek and Gemma Chua-Tran, Jack Vidgen, Danielle Laidley, Brodie Townsend, and Carlotta.