List of EastEnders characters introduced in 2021

Zack Hudson (James Farrar) made his debut in March, followed by Dana Monroe (Barbara Smith) and Estelle Jones (Sue Holderness) in April.

Tom "Rocky" Cotton (Brian Conley) made his first appearance in May pretending to be Terry Cant, the father of Sonia Fowler (Natalie Cassidy).

In October, Delroy Atkinson, Charlie Wernham and Heather Peace made their debuts as Howie Danes, Aaron Monroe and Eve Unwin, respectively, as well as Alyssa, the child of Jada Lennox (Kelsey Calladine-Smith) and Dennis Rickman (Bleu Landau).

[3] Stan "Stas" Saunders, played by Adam Young, is an associate of Phil (Steve McFadden) and Ben Mitchell (Max Bowden), who first appeared in Episode 6225, which originally aired 22 February 2021.

[7] Zack is introduced as the son of Gavin Sullivan (Paul Nicholas) and half-brother of established character Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean), although this is embargoed until his first appearance.

[14] The character's relationship with Bobby has been well received by viewers and critics, with one of their scenes nominated for Feel Good Moment at the 2021 Inside Soap Awards.

[16][17] Molly Ellis, played by Juliette Alexandra,[18] is the owner of a dog that Bailey Baker (Kara-Leah Fernandes) and Bernadette Taylor (Clair Norris) have been taking care of.

After retrieving her dog, Molly asks Bernadette on a date and the two of them strike up a friendship over the coming months and even become co-workers at KJP Pest Control.

However, she learns that Bernadette has plans to be a surrogate mother for Rainie (Tanya Franks) and Stuart Highway (Ricky Champ), which Molly vocalises her disagreement with.

[26] Jon Sen, the show's executive producer, was pleased with Taylor's casting, calling her "the perfect actress to play the multi-faceted Violet Highway".

[29] On 12 September 2023, it was confirmed that Conley had quit the show,[30] and his last appearance aired on 29 December 2023 which saw Rocky in police custody admitting to the fire at the cafe after an emotional goodbye to Kathy.

She first appears in Episode 6277, which first aired on 24 May 2021, when she informs Mila that their mother Nyangi Marwa (Lucy Vandi) plans to take her on a trip to see an unnamed aunt.

[33] Jeanette is introduced as a pregnant taxicab driver who drives Mick Carter, portrayed by her real-life father Danny Dyer, to his wife's baby scan appointment.

[34] Jeanette is flagged down by Mick after his car suffers a flat tyre in his attempts to get to the hospital where his wife Linda Carter (Kellie Bright) is having a baby scan.

Annie is a result of a short-term affair between her parents, which is a major factor in her mother's declining marriage to Mick Carter (Danny Dyer), in addition to Linda's alcoholism which also played a large part in their divorce.

Linda takes back control of The Queen Vic, struggling with grief over Mick, but continues to hang on for her children, Annie and Ollie Carter (Harry Farr).

[42] Howie is introduced as part of a story exploring the disappearance of established character Vincent Hubbard (Richard Blackwood) as his wife, Kim Fox (Tameka Empson), searches for him.

Atkinson was pleased to be involved in the group and liked working with Empson, Diane Parish (Denise Fox) and Scott Maslen (Jack Branning).

[44] Kim overhears Mitch Baker (Roger Griffiths) cab booking for someone using the name "Vince Hubbard" and decides to investigate it as she believes it is her husband, Vincent.

[47] Aaron's backstory states that he was raised by Harvey, who he shares a close relationship with, and left home as soon as he got a job in finance in inner-city London.

[51] On Peace's casting as Eve, executive producer Jon Sen commented: "Heather brings the perfect amount of boldness and wit to the role".

[49] Turner told Sophie Dainty from Digital Spy that Eve and Stacey have "a great chemistry", reflected in her working relationship with Peace.

Dennis' adoptive father Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) believes that Jada is struggling to look after Alyssa and convinces Sharon to go for full custody.

He persuades her to return to Walford, and whilst outside the train station, Jada is inattentive to Alyssa, causing her pram to roll into the path of an oncoming car.

She befriends Will Mitchell (Freddie Phillips) and bumps into her old friends Chess Newland (Liani Samuel) and Melody Wiles (Niamh Longford).

Jada persuades Zack and Martin to leave the house, however, Sonia Fowler (Natalie Cassidy) overhears the music and ends the party after catching Will smoking.

However, Janine has recorded Jada admitting her intentions for revenge and blackmails her into planting alcohol on Linda and reporting her to Social Services for neglecting and harming her daughter Annie.

Neil Hughes, played by Thomas Coombes,[64] is a childhood friend of Aaron Monroe (Charlie Wernham) who is part of a far-right terrorist group.

Neil arranges numerous crimes to be committed against minority groups, including having Keegan Butcher-Baker (Zack Morris) beaten up, a bomb being planted at a mosque in Albert Square and assaulting a group of LGBTQ+ people including Ben Mitchell (Max Bowden), Callum Highway (Tony Clay), Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner), Eve Unwin (Heather Peace) and Ash Panesar (Gurlaine Kaur Garcha).

In March 2022, Gray attempts to flee Walford, taking Jordan along with his other two children Mia (Mahalia Malcolm) and Mackenzie (Issac Lemonius) with him, but Karen Taylor (Lorraine Stanley) stops him after he admits to murdering Chantelle, and is subsequently arrested and imprisoned.