Emmerdale actors are reportedly ‘worried’ that no one is safe after Susan Cookson joined Dean Andrews and Daisy Campbell in being axed from the ITV soap during a major budget crisis

Emmerdale star Susan Cookson has made her feelings known after being booted from the show amid a series of firings.

Susan played Wendy Posney on Emmerdale, and had worked on the ITV soap since 2019 after racking up credits in hits such as Casualty and Coronation Street. Now, however, she’s the latest star get the axe, and is reportedly already filming her final scenes.

A source told The Sun that Susan was “devastated” to have to leave the show and work environment she loved so much, and that even more actors are likely to be fired. “She’s really well liked in the cast but unfortunately budget cuts mean hard decisions need to be made and that resulted in Susan being one of a number of cast leaving,” they said, adding: “ITV is going through a cash crisis with the soaps and the money just isn’t there to pay for everyone any more.”

An insider said ITV is having a ‘cash crisis,’ and that we can expect more characters to get the boot from the soap
The insider explained that unless producers love the character or they bring a lot of drama to the show, there’s no budget to keep them. They also added that there was a “worry on set about who will be next to go.”

Susan’s upcoming exit will quickly follow that of Dean Andrews, whose character Will Taylor was k!lled off on Christmas Day. Dean had also been on Emmerdale since 2019, and told the Mirror months ago that if he left, it would be a case of him being fired rather than quitting. “I feel very settled. With other stuff that we do [other acting jobs] we’re there for three to five months or whatever, and then we all disappear and we all go and do other stuff and then we come back,” he said.

Dean later added: “I do feel settled here. When the producers initially asked me to come in and asked me how long I’d like to stay and I said: ‘If I come in now, you’ll have to kick me out.’ I’ll stay as long as they want me to stay but how long they want to stay is up to them. I’m of an age now where I’m in my sixties so I’ll probably retire after this job.”

Just a few days before Dean’s departure, young actress Daisy Campbell was also given her marching orders. Daisy told the Mirror she was “so sad” to leave, after we exclusively confirmed the departure back in October. Daisy shared: “It feels really sad. It’s mixed emotions really I think. It’s been such a tough year, and I’ve had to deal with so much, but I was so at peace when leaving because I’ve grieved.

“I’m not only grieving for myself, it’s a character that I’ve always played. This is my first ever job from being seven, so it felt really sad. But then it was nice to close the door and be at peace, because I’ve just allowed it to play out as it has this year. But yeah, it’s really upsetting, because it’s all I’ve ever known, but I mean new things and maybe new parts next year. Who knows? But yeah, it’s been sad. It’s been really sad.”