EastEnders ‘reveals’ who will be pregnant at New Year – but Max isn’t the father
In the New Year's Day flashforward to 2027, Max Branning was shown to be sleeping next to a pregnant woman, but fans are now sure that he is not the father
EastEnders ‘unmask’ who will be pregnant at New Year – but Max isn’t the father(Image: BBC/Jack Barns/Kieron McCarron)
Once again, EastEnders seem to be pointing fans towards Priya Nandra-Hart being the mystery pregnant woman in Max Branning’s bed on New Year’s Day, but now it seems Max may not be the father of the baby.
In scenes airing on 4 March, Lauren Branning (Jacqueline Jossa) saw how good Priya (Sophie Levy) was at upselling while she worked at the bap van. As such, she offered Priya the car salesman job at her dealership. Fans not only loved the budding friendship between the two women, but pointed out that working for Lauren will likely throw Priya into Max’s (Jake Wood) sightline.
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Max woke up next to a pregnant woman, but is he the father?(Image: BBC)
“She’ll be in close proximity to Max….” one fan wrote online. Another felt this was a hint that Priya and Max would start a relationship, making her the pregnant woman he was with in the flashforward episode at the start of the year, as has been theorised before: “Could this be hinting at Priya being pregnant by Max in 2027 though or possibly being the one he sleeps with?”
However, others felt Max being the father wasn’t as likely as another Walford resident. One fan suggested it could be Mark Fowler Jr. (Stephen Aaron-Sipple), who Priya has previously gotten closer to in recent episodes.
“Unless its a massive red herring, Priya working at the car lot solidifies my belief that she’s the pregnant woman in the flashforward,” the fan started. “She’ll build up friendships with Lauren and probably Max. Maybe even Mark – who could be the dad if it’s not Ravi.”
Another fan agreed: “Priya being the pregnant woman definitely makes sense, and I really hope Mark is the father instead of Max because he and Priya have so much chemistry.
“Would also make sense if the real red herring is her being in Max’s bed – felt like the show was trying too hard to make us think Max had yet another affair.”
Priya Nandra-Hart might be the pregnant woman(Image: BBC/Jack Barns/Kieron McCarron)
Mark and Ravi both work for the same drugs gang, but while Mark has been tasked with sniffing out a rat, Priya are trying to hide that Ravi is the very person Mark is looking for. As such, she has gotten closer to Mark to try and keep Ravi safe. However, her attempts ultimately were in vain, as the episode closed with Mark informing his bosses that he knew who the rat was.
This came after Ravi warned Mark that the drugs deal he was about to do would “go wrong”. Sure enough, the deal was busted by police and those involved were arrested. Sensing that Ravi couldn’t have known what would happen without being involved, Mark figured out what was going on.
Mark was first seen back in Walford during the flashforward episode that aired on 1 January. In the episode, the BBC soap did a time jump forward to New Year’s Day 2027, and followed Max as he prepared for his wedding to a mystery bride.
As he got ready, an unknown pregnant woman was sleeping in his bed. The woman remained in his flat as Max went about his day – which in typical EastEnders wedding fashion, was far from normal. Max was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder and also sent a text by an unknown number who pointed a gun at Lauren and her brother Oscar (Pierre Counihan-Moullier) and told him to pick a child to save.
