Earlier this year, the show revealed that Darryl “Brax” Braxton (Stephen Peacocke) and Erica “Ricky” Sharpe (Bonnie Sveen) would return to Home and Away for a brief stint early in 2026.

The news came a month after Seven announced that the show would be heading to Western Australia for the first time, to film a blockbuster week of episodes.

Filming locations in the western state were set to include Perth and its rugged coastline, as well as the state’s expansive red outback.

At the time, producers promised that the special episodes would see “an ambitious, high-stakes storyline”, filmed in the “stunning natural beauty” of Australia’s westernmost state.

Shortly after, the show released a series of photos of the pair, who left Summer Bay for the final time in 2016, wearing ‘akubra’ or outback hats, surrounded by the iconic red dirt of the Aussie outback.

In one of the promotional pictures for the pair’s return, Bonnie Sveen is seen holding a film slate which shows that the pair were filming episode 8688, part of production block 1736.

Exact air dates depend on when Home and Away returns to screens in 2026, as well as the number of episodes Channel 7 airs per week, which varies between four and six episodes across the year.

However, we anticipate Brax and Ricky’s special episodes to air on Australian screens sometime between mid-March and mid-April.

Tonight’s 2026 promo, which aired after the finale, gave us a first look at their scenes. We see Brax riding through a cattle ranch on a dirt bike, before greeting Ricky with a “missed me?”

“Ah, you wish,” she replies with a smile.

We then see Brax and Ricky’s child, Casey, run up to his dad and give him a hug.

Then, the pair look relaxed at the beach, as Ricky dries off after a surf, before scenes of the father and son fixing up the dirt bike.

The pair are living the relaxed life in Queensland, as we see Brax driving a boat, while Ricky points out a kangaroo on the shore to Casey.

However, as the pace of the shots increases and the music builds, a truck pulls up next to a car, as we see Ricky with a concerned look on her face.

“Once a River Boy, always a River Boy,” Ricky says to her partner. Are the pair really living a peaceful life, or is there more River Boy drama to come in 2026?