McLeod’s stars Aaron Jeffery and Rachael Carpani join Home and Away

From Drover's Run to Summer Bay!

It’s official, 15 years after the end of McLeod’s Daughters, Aaron Jeffery and Rachael Carpani are joining the cast of Home and Away.

According to reports, Aaron, 53, will join the soap as James ‘Jimmy’ Fowler.

Given the character’s name, which was spied on Aaron’s official acting profile online, many fans are certain he has been cast as the father of Summer Bay siblings Eden, Levi and Abigail Fowler.

Meanwhile, Rachael will supposedly play Claudia Salina.

Very little is currently known about Claudia, with fans noting her last name has no ties to current characters, meaning she is likely part of an end-of-season plot and not expected to be in many episodes.

Channel Seven’s move to hire Aaron, 53, and Rachael, 43, has stirred speculation among TV experts.

They are convinced the network might be planning on sinking its teeth into the long-awaited McLeod’s project – which was green-lit four years ago.

McLeod’s Daughters originally aired on rival network Nine.

Series creator Posie Graeme-Evans confirmed in 2022 that her new project had been acquired by film studio Dreamchaser.

The studio is co-run by former Nine CEO Hugh Marks, who left the network in 2020.

“Hugh’s company securing the McLeod’s film almost guarantees it won’t appear on Nine or their streaming offering Stan,” told one TV insider.

They also said that Seven casting two long-time McLeod’s favourites in Aaron and Rachael “just doesn’t seem like a coincidence”.

It’s not hard to imagine Seven purchasing the rights to turn the new project into a mini-series event across weekends or running the film on prime time and then on 7plus,” the source continued.

“They now have two major McLeod’s stars on their payroll and the cross promotion between Home and Away and a new McLeod’s is gold,” they added.

In an interview with New Idea last year, Rachael said she’d happily return as Jodi Fountain McLeod for the new project if asked.

Aaron likely wouldn’t be part of it though, given his character Alex Ryan died in the final season.