EastEnders has released new artwork hinting at a dark future for Max Branning ahead of the New Year's Day flashforward episode. The episode, airing on 1 January at 19:30 on BBC One, will jump forward to 2027 and show Max preparing for his wedding.
The promotional image depicts Max in a wedding suit with a blood-splattered rose on his lapel. Behind him, his son Oscar is screaming, while Lauren is crying. In the foreground, a sonogram, a SWAT officer pointing a gun, and a white Rolls Royce decorated for a wedding are visible.
The flashforward was teased at the end of the New Year's Eve episode, which showed the sonogram and Rolls Royce but only the gun being pointed, not who was holding it. The presence of a SWAT team in Walford remains unexplained, but the sonogram and Rolls Royce suggest Max's womanising ways may be involved.
Max has a history of violence and murder. In 2017, he blackmailed Steven Beale into starting a fire that trapped Jane Beale, and later pushed Steven, causing his death. He also attempted to strangle Ian Beale and kill Phil Mitchell in the same year. Additionally, he helped cover up Stacey Slater's murder of Archie Mitchell in 2009 and allowed his brother Derek to die from a heart attack in 2012.
The blood on Max's rose raises questions about whether a murder will occur. With his past actions, Max could be the perpetrator or victim of violence in the flashforward.
