Sean Slater is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Robert Kazinsky, who made his first appearance on 22 August 2006.

Sean's existence was revealed on 9 December 2005 when his sister Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner) returns to Walford after their mother, Jean (Gillian Wright), attempts suicide.

[1] Growing up, Sean adored his father Brian and younger sister Stacey (Lacey Turner), but had a fractured relationship with his mother Jean (Gillian Wright) due to her bipolar disorder.

Believing that he killed his father, Sean panicked and on his sixteenth birthday, he ran away, joined the army and lost all contact with his family.

Sean breaks into Al's flat and follows him into The Queen Victoria public house, where he ends up seeing his sister Stacey, whom he had lost contact with for seven years.

Sean immediately begins pursuing Tanya Branning (Jo Joyner), despite briefly dumping her for Stacey's best-friend Ruby Allen (Louisa Lytton) after learning that she is wealthy.

However, his plan is quickly discovered by Ruby's business partner Jake Moon (Joel Beckett), whom he begins clashing with in the process.

The next day, Sean visits Johnny and attempts to fabricate his story by proclaiming that his intentions are to create goodwill for Ruby and her future.

At first Sean appears to feel intimidated, but he then surprises Johnny by taunting him over his real plans for Ruby before leaving prison.

Sean then continues to pursue Tanya, only to end up having sex with numerous other women – including Karin Jones (Anna Lauren) and Preeti Choraria (Babita Pohoomull).

In 2007, Sean starts dating Chelsea Fox (Tiana Benjamin) and also has sex with her stepsister Carly Wicks (Kellie Shirley), causing a number of arguments.

Scorned, Chelsea and Deano Wicks (Matt Di Angelo) try to get revenge on Sean by attempting to frame him for assaulting shopkeeper Patrick Trueman (Rudolph Walker).

In March 2008, they plot to fake Tanya's reconciliation with her estranged husband Max (Jake Wood) in order to gain control of his assets and then leave the country.

This causes Sean to believe that he is the father, but is left unaware that Roxy had a one-night stand with Max's younger brother Jack (Scott Maslen).

Sean leaves Albert Square briefly and returns in July after learning that Roxy is in Weymouth with her father, Archie (Larry Lamb), so he goes to see her.

Archie encourages Roxy to stay in Weymouth with him, but her sister Ronnie (Samantha Womack) and Sean persuade her to return to Walford, and she moves in with him.

Ronnie disapproves of Roxy and Sean's relationship as she suspects him of selling drugs, but comes round after they get married in August.

A few weeks later, Archie persuades Jack and Max's sister Suzy (Maggie O'Neill) to help him reveal the DNA test results to Sean on Christmas Day.

In May 2015, Stacey makes a videocall to Sean via Skype; while he does not appear on-screen, he reminds her to take care of her mystery key due to its link to their father.

After Sean scares Jean by asking morbid questions, Stacey takes him aside and rebukes him for his actions, wishing he would be a normal person.

Jean reassures Sean that he is not a bad person for his actions, and that Brian had been living a double life with another family the entire time.

Sean was created as an addition to the soap's existing Slater family, comprised initially of sister Stacey (Lacey Turner) and mother Jean (Gillian Wright).

[2] It was first announced on 13 April 2006 that the character would be joining EastEnders in the coming months,[3] with the revelation made that: "He's going to enter the Square with a bang and will be at the centre of some of the biggest storylines of the year.

[7]Kazinsky has also spoken extensively on several of his character's romantic relationships, declaring in August 2007 that: "Until he knows himself and can forgive himself and actually let his guard down, he's never going to be in a position where he can give to anybody other than himself.

"[8] In January 2007, Kazinsky was suspended from the show for a period of two months, following allegations he had sent raunchy, inappropriate text messages to a model.

[9] The character was temporarily written out of the soap, with a statement released by the BBC which explained: "Following the story in the Sunday People on 7 January 2007, EastEnders executive producer Diederick Santer has taken the decision to suspend Robert Kazinsky from early February for a period of two months.

"It's exciting to work with an actor with Rob's drive, passion, and eye for detail, and I can't wait to see the impact his arrival has on the Square amidst those who loved or loathed the troubled Sean Slater.

"[14] On 17 January 2019, it was confirmed that Kazinsky would reprise his role as Sean for a "short stint in the spring", ten years after his exit.

So I said to Kate [Oates]: 'I'm in London for one day, let's write a scene and I'll swing by in the morning and we can do it, better than that, every time I'm in the UK, if I can, let's do it again' and she rallied the troops and made it happen."

In 2020, Sara Wallis and Ian Hyland from The Daily Mirror placed Sean 63rd on their ranked list of the best EastEnders characters of all time, calling him Stacey's "brooding" brother who "had affairs with half the women in Walford and picked fights with most of the gangsters".