List of Home and Away characters introduced in 2022
Home and Away is an Australian television soap opera. It was first broadcast on the Seven Network on 17 January 1988. The following is a list of characters that appeared in 2022, by order of first appearance. All characters are introduced by the soap's executive producer, Lucy Addario. The 35th season of Home and Away began airing from 31 January 2022. Xander Delaney was introduced at the end of March, followed shortly after by his sibling Rose Delaney in early April and [|PK] at the end of the month. Lyrik band members Bob Forsyth, Kirby Aramoana, [|Remi Carter], and [|Eden Fowler] made their debuts in July. [|Bree Cameron] and Heather Frazer arrived in August. Gary Morrow was introduced in October.
Xander Delaney
Xander Delaney, played by Luke Van Os, made his first appearance on 31 March 2022. The casting and character details were announced on 21 October 2021. Van Os is the cousin of former Home and Away actor Chris Hemsworth. He sought advice from Hemsworth ahead of a callback for the show, explaining "When I was asked for a callback for the chemistry test, I actually zoomed with Chris the night before and we ran it and kind of just got into a good headspace." After winning the role, Van Os relocated to Sydney to be closer to the studios and began filming the same week as his casting announcement. Xander is Van Os's breakthrough role, and he hoped the part would help him to go on to have a long career, like many of the show's former actors. Van Os later teased a connection between Xander and an established character.Xander was also billed as "a mysterious individual who arrives in the Bay searching for answers". It was later confirmed that Xander is related to Jasmine Delaney and fellow newcomer Rose Delaney. Xander and Rose were not aware of Jasmine until their father died. Van Os explained "Upon the will reading, Xander finds a name he doesn't recognise, Jasmine Delaney. Xander comes to the Bay to figure out who this mystery woman is and at the very least give her the money his father left in the will for her." Jasmine initially refuses to get to know Xander and Rose, believing they are scam artists. She asks her partner Cash Newman to run a background check on the pair, which causes a "disappointed" Xander to suggest that he and Rose leave the Bay.
The character exited the serial during the episode broadcast on 6 November 2024. Viewers speculated that Van Os had left Home and Away after he posted various images of his travels on social media and had not been seen at Palm Beach, the show's exterior filming location. A promotional trailer released the week before also hinted at Xander's departure. On-screen, the character leaves the Bay for Melbourne, where he has a six week internship at a hotel. His final scenes were shared with Rose and his girlfriend Dana Matheson. Van Os's permanent departure was finally confirmed in February 2025. In scenes airing on 13 February, Xander contacts Rose to tell her that he is staying in Melbourne, having secured a job as an events manager. He then asks Dana via text message to join him in Melbourne as he is not coming back to the Bay.
Rose Delaney
Rose Delaney, played by Kirsty Marillier, made her first appearance on 4 April 2022. Marillier's casting and character details were announced on 15 November 2021. Jonathan Moran from The Daily Telegraph reported that she had already filmed her first scenes and had five weeks of filming completed. Marillier previously made a guest appearance in the serial in 2018 as Rhea. She will join the main cast this time around, and she stated: "It is pretty life changing, I am not going to lie. It is really like that big break you crave and wish for as a student and young actor. It really is the break that I always wanted to be a series regular on a show like this, which is so iconic as a part of the Australian canon, and to be acting every day, exercising that muscle, learning on set from everyone around me, it truly is like something I feel so humbled to have been offered."Further details about Rose's introduction confirmed that she is related to Jasmine Delaney and fellow newcomer Xander Delaney. On-screen, it is established that Rose and Jasmine are not biologically related, as she and Xander share the same mother, but have different fathers. Rose and Xander come to Summer Bay to honour their father's will and give Jasmine her share of the inheritance. While Rose wants to get it over with, Xander is keen to get to know Jasmine. Rose is a police officer, who develops a crush on her colleague and Jasmine's boyfriend Cash Newman. Cash convinces Rose to stay and not abandon Jasmine like their father did. She eventually joins the local police department and works alongside Cash. Producers introduced the character's biological father Samuel Edwards in August 2023, after Rose decides she wants to know more about her heritage. Daniel Kilkelly of Digital Spy confirmed Marillier's departure on 21 November 2024. He reported that Marillier had filmed her final scenes a few weeks prior and that they would air several months into 2025. The character's exit aired on 19 March 2025, as she left the Bay for a detective job in the city.
PK
Peter "PK" King, played by Ryan Johnson, made his first appearance on 28 April 2022. Johnson previously appeared in Home and Away in 2010 as Paulie Rosetta. He acknowledged his history of having multiple characters on television shows, saying "I did two characters on Rake and two characters on All Saints. This is my second character on Home and Away and it is a lot of fun." PK is a wealthy poker player who buys his way into poker events hosted by Mackenzie Booth. Johnson described PK as "a bit of a sociopath" and explained "He sees an opportunity to come in and cause some chaos and that's the thrill of it for him. These people are like playthings to him and I think he just goes from place to place and screws people over."Johnson relished the chance to play a character who was the opposite to the sensitive, moralistic Matt Knight, who he played in Doctor Doctor. He wanted to push himself in his career and found playing a villain was "exciting". Some viewers speculated that PK might be an undercover police officer and was going to bust the illegal gambling nights hosted by Mackenzie, but Johnson told Kerry Harvey of Stuff that while he could not confirm or deny the theory, he did not play the character that way. Harvey pointed out that it was ironic Johnson was playing a gambler, as he was not that kind of risk taker in real life. Johnson admitted that he refuses to do voiceover work for gambling commercials as it can ruin people's lives, and he thought the storyline with PK and Mackenzie showed "how no one ever really wins when it comes to gambling." A whodunnit storyline began on 23 May, after PK's body is discovered on the beach.
[|Nathan Silva] introduces PK to Mackenzie Booth and he asks to buy into that night's poker game, but she says it is full and he would need to be vetted. Nathan tells her he can vouch for PK, but Mac turns them down. Nathan tries again to convince Mac to let PK into the game and PK tells her to name her price to get him a seat at the table, which she accepts. Felicity Newman is suspicious of PK, but Mac insists that he stays as he tripled the buy-in. PK later tells Mac that he wants to run an exclusive poker night at Salt with one table and a $5,000 buy-in. When they discuss the arrangements, PK tells Mac that he does not want Felicity at the event because her brother is a police officer. Felicity confronts PK, telling him that she has been running poker nights for years and that her brother is not an issue, but PK dismisses her. He later sends Nathan to stop her from leaving her house on the night. PK wins big, but he then informs Mac that the House lost and she owes the players $100,000. PK says he has got Mac covered and that they can find a way for her to repay him. He gives her his hotel address and she realises that he wants her to have sex with him. Mac goes to his hotel room, where PK makes advances towards her. They kiss, but Mac soon tells him that she cannot go through with it.
Mac soon learns that PK has scammed her, as the House cannot lose. She later invites PK to Salt, where she pitches him an idea to repay her debt – they will hose another VIP poker night and she will give him the buy-in takings. However, PK says that he will run the night and then demands all of the money made, causing an angered Mac to ask him to leave. He later sends some men to Salt to steal the takings and trash the restaurant. Tane Parata is stabbed during a fight with them. Mac confronts PK and tells him that she knows he conned her and that Tane could have died. Nathan assures her that nobody was meant to get hurt and the men were sent to intimidate her. Dean Thompson threatens PK, who retaliates by sending Dean a photo of his young son with a threatening message. Dean attacks PK at the Surf Club and has to be pulled away. He later arranges for the River Boys to kidnap PK. Days later, PK's body is found on the beach and the police conclude that it was dumped there. The coroner reports that PK died from multiple blunt force trauma to the head. All those involved with PK are questioned, and Nathan later retrieves a metal wrench from the bushes and wipes PK's blood off of it. He then tries to frame Dean for PK's murder, but Dean has him kidnapped and then forces him to go to the police, where he confesses to killing PK to protect Mac.