Emmerdale gave fans a fantastic treat this week as Robert Sugden made a sensational return to ruin Aaron Dingle’s wedding.

The popular character turned up in the closing moments of Wednesday’s episode, disrupting Aaron’s big day by bursting into the ceremony at the village hall.

Robert hasn’t featured in the ITV soap for six years, so why is he back and what can fans expect next? Here are nine key details you need to know…

1. Robert really is out of prison

Robert’s return scene was cleverly designed to keep fans guessing. All week, we’ve witnessed Aaron’s husband-to-be John Sugden experiencing terrifying nightmares of their wedding going wrong in various ways.

The first scene which showed Robert’s reappearance played out in a similar style, leaving us to wonder whether he was genuinely back or if John was having another pesky daydream.

Thursday’s episode (already available to watch on ITVX) explains all, as it’s clear that Robert really is out of prison and he’s not a figment of John’s ever-vivid imagination.

Robert explains that he had his sentence reduced via appeal, having successfully argued that he wasn’t solely responsible for Lee Posner’s death as the villain’s brother Luke also attacked him that day.

2. Nobody tipped off Robert about the wedding

So, who told Robert when to expect Aaron’s wedding? Did Victoria have secret doubts and let him know? Did Aidan secretly slip him a text during his five-minutes-or-so out of the coma? Or did Ross decide to meddle during a spare minute when he wasn’t focused on his long-lost brother’s cannabis plants?

Well, none of those things – there’s a far simpler explanation. In Thursday’s episode, Robert confirms that he read about the ceremony on the Dingles’ social media.

“It’s not complicated. If you didn’t want anyone to know, you should’ve told them to stop posting things all over their socials,” Robert tells Aaron. Fair point.

3. Robert is still on probation

During his catch-up chat with Aaron, Robert admits that he’s still on probation following his prison release – and is even running the risk of missing a key meeting just to ruin the wedding.

This naturally creates some ever-present jeopardy on how long Robert can manage to stay free. It’s probably a good idea to stay out of fights, avoid scamming innocent victims, and not lock anybody in a car boot for a while.

4. He’s back for good

In an interview published after his return scene aired last night, Ryan Hawley – who plays Robert – confirmed that he’s back on a permanent basis.

“My character is returning permanently and not just for Aaron and John’s wedding. I am back for good, and I am so excited to be playing Robert again,” Ryan told The Mirror.

5. Ryan is relocating for the role

Showing his commitment to all things Emmerdale, Ryan has relocated especially to play Robert again.

The actor had been living in Brazil with his family for the past year, but felt the time was right to come back to the UK.

“The timing felt right for us to not only move back to Britain, but also for me to come back to Emmerdale,” Ryan told The Mirror.

“Enough time has passed, and with this big wedding storyline, it is the right time for Robert to cause chaos and huge drama!”

6. Danny Miller played a role in Robert’s comeback

Proving his loyalty to the #Robron cause, Danny Miller – who plays Aaron – helped to pull some strings to make this plot twist happen.

Ryan told ITV’s Lorraine today: “I got a call from Danny being like, ‘How do you feel about coming back?’ He’d asked me a few times and Emmerdale asked me a few times, but it was never the right time.”

Once Ryan confirmed to Danny that he was interested, the Emmerdale producers quickly got in touch to discuss the finer details. Nice job, Danny!

7. John should watch out

Fans have been waiting for someone to spark John’s downfall and it seems that his half-brother Robert could be the man for the job.

“[My return is] indefinite. Robert is back in the village, he’s coming back to try and win Aaron back,” Ryan explained on Lorraine today.

“He’s gonna put a stop to John. Well, is he? He’s gonna try.”

8. There’s a long-term plan

Ryan is already teasing high drama towards the end of this year, as big stories come to a head.

“It’s such a good year going forward,” he promised during his Lorraine chat. “I know – kind of towards the end of the year, I’ve been told.

“I’m honestly so excited [over] where the show’s going. It just feels like a great time to be involved in it.”

On the possibility of Robert exposing John’s deception, Ryan added: “Well, we hope that’s going to happen. But will it? I can’t really give anything away in that sense, but there’s a lot of obstacles that Robert has to overcome before that’s going to happen.”

9. Robert’s return was planned as a huge soap secret

Originally, the plan was for Robert’s return to play out with no spoilers or announcement prior to the episode airing.

Soap bosses went all-out to create secrecy. Ryan’s scenes have mainly been scheduled in the show’s remote village location, to avoid the possibility of him being spotted by fans outside the studio.

When Ryan has been in the building, he’s been picked up at home by an Emmerdale driver and escorted discreetly into a secret entrance.

Ryan was even given the code-name of “Marco” on set to avoid too much chatter about the secret.

Of course, “Marco” was no match for the tabloids and Robert’s return did leak out in the papers at the start of this month.

Show bosses still scrapped Wednesday’s early ITVX release so that the exact timing and storyline for his comeback would stay under wraps, so it wasn’t all for nothing, at least!