EastEnders star Louisa Lytton lands all-new role away from Walford's Ruby Allen

Lytton will be taking on the lead role of Rachel Watson, a role played by Emily Blunt in the 2016 thriller film that also starred Luke Evans, Rebecca Ferguson, Haley Bennett and Justin Theroux.

Of course, both the film and this new stage version are based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Paula Hawkins, which was published in 2015 and follows Rachel, who sees what she perceives to be a perfect couple as she rides the train each day in her post-divorce haze.

But when the wife goes missing, Rachel finds herself entangled in the investigation, which only brings problems of her own to the fore.

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It's quite the meaty role for Lytton, then, who made her first EastEnders appearance back in 2005 and has since returned to the beloved soap over the years.

This isn't the first time Lytton has taken to the stage, however, with the actress having previously starred in Sleeping Beauty, Boogie Nights, 2:22 A Ghost Story and Cinderella.

Lytton will be taking over the leading role in The Girl on the Train from Giovanna Fletcher, and will then be passing the baton over to Laura Whitmore, who will be in the role from June 2025.

In total, Lytton will play Rachel in Chester, Woking, Birmingham, Southend, Liverpool, Leicester and Cardiff.

She is set to be joined in the production by Daniel Burke as Kamal Abdic, Zena Carswell as Anna Watson, Samuel Collings as Scott Hipwell, Natalie Dunne as Megan Hipwell, Paul McEwan as DI Gaskill and Jason Merrells as Tom Watson until 29th March 2025, with casting updates set to be provided in due course.

EastEnders airs Monday to Thursday at 7:30pm on BBC One and from 6am on BBC iPlayer.

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