A Countdown to Disaster

Home and Away ends its season with the biggest catastrophe the show has attempted in almost four decades. A packed “party train” heading for the Off the Rails festival becomes the centre of a terrifying storyline. Dozens of Summer Bay favourites are onboard. Spirits are high. Music is loud. Drinks are flowing. But the celebrations hide the truth — this train is racing toward a deadly derailment.

Speaking on Sunrise, Emily Weir (Mackenzie Booth) warns fans that no one is safe. “Everyone’s life is at stake,” she said. “More than half the cast is on the train. We don’t know what’s going to happen.” Her words set the tone for a finale built on rising fear and sudden danger.

Behind the Scenes of a Massive Shoot

Ada Nicodemou, who has played Leah for 25 years, revealed the huge effort behind the sequence. Filming took place across several weeks, using multiple train sets and long days on location. “It was a massive shoot,” she explained. “There were three or four trains. It was a big one.”

Nicodemou also shared a lighter moment. She and real-life partner James Stewart, who plays Justin Morgan, were able to stay together while filming away from home. She joked that it felt like “being away at camp”. But the light mood did not last long. Both characters end up in the centre of the disaster, and even Leah — known for surviving kidnappings, stabbings and emotional heartbreak — may not escape this time.

First-Timers Face the Chaos

For Ally Harris (Dana Matheson), the finale marks her first big stunt sequence on the show. She said the action felt like “Mission: Impossible”, complete with stunt doubles and explosive set pieces. “Instead of a motorcycle off a cliff, it’s a train in a tunnel,” she joked. Harris revealed she was thrown from one end of the carriage to the other in one of the big moments.

Ryan Bown, who plays Sonny, admitted his character feels guilty. Sonny helped organise the festival trip, and he now fears the disaster is partly his fault. “I was trying to do the right thing… it’s obviously got us in trouble,” he said. “I take full responsibility.”

A Proposal—and a Shocking Truth

Newcomer Maddison Brown, who plays Jo Langham, teased her own dramatic twist. Jo receives a surprise proposal on the train moments before everything goes wrong. Brown said the scene was “very exciting” but confirmed that “no one is immune to disaster”.

The cast remain tight-lipped about who dies, though Harris did reveal one chilling clue: “The train doesn’t make it to the station.”

Fans now wait to learn which beloved character will not survive the wreckage — and how the Bay will recover when the show returns in 2026.