After 37 years, legendary Aussie soap Neighbours finally came to a close last night.
WATCH: Kylie Minogue’s first scene on Neighbours
Fans were understandably emotional over the 90-minute special, which saw the return of many former Ramsay Street residents as they celebrated Jarrod ‘Toadfish’ Rebecchi finally tying the knot with Melanie Pearson.
Of course, viewers were hyped over the appearance of the nation’s most beloved couple, Scott and Charlene (Jason Donovan and Kylie Mingue) – though there was one aspect of pop icon Kylie’s return that had fans baffled.
Social media quickly exploded as the iconic couple rolled into Ramsay Street playing ‘Especially for You’ – Kylie and Jason’s duet track – though excitement soon turned to confusion when the ‘Locomotion’ singer barely spoke throughout the entire episode.
Given that Charlene’s return was a major factor in many tuning in for the Neighbours finale, many began to speculate the reason behind Kylie’s lack of lines, with fans believing that production simply couldn’t afford to pay the star enough to dish out lengthy lines.
“So was Charlene contractually not allowed to speak more than 5 words?,” one viewer wrote online, as a second added: “Has Kylies voice box disappeared? Or she charges by the word & they couldn’t afford the lines.. Say something please!“
A third joked, “Blowing the budget with some CGI on the confetti is the reason they couldn’t afford to give Kylie any lines.”
A third suspected that Kylie’s current voice wouldn’t align with her character’s very Aussie accent.
“Is Charlene not speaking because they can’t explain her mysteriously acquiring an international accent in Coffs Harbour?” they asked.
Now, showrunner Jason Herbison has told TV Tonight that the real reason is much more heart-warming.
“Our discussions with Jason and Kylie were always about making a small appearance,” he told the outlet.
“They didn’t want to overshadow the current cast or make the finale about them.
“We also filmed their scenes before I’d written the episode, so whatever we filmed had to fit in with that.”
Fans picked up on that detail, as Kylie and Jason only appeared on-screen with a handful of other characters, including Guy Pearce.
WATCH: Kylie Minogue discusses her return to Neighbours
Kylie previously spoke of making her return to Ramsay Street after 30 years in an interview with Today reporter Brooke Boney, with the singer admitting she was initially unsure about reprising her role of Charlene Robinson.
“For so long I was like ‘oh maybe, I don’t know, I don’t know if that makes any sense’,” she said, though she eventually signed on for the finale.
“Jason said this could be a really nice opportunity to ‘buckle the buckle’ as an ex-boyfriend of mine would say… to say thank you,” she laughed.
The pop superstar said returning to the Neighbours set in Melbourne was both “lovely and emotional”.
“Driving into Ramsay Street was quite something. I was like, “firstly, where’s all that time gone?'” she said.
“Secondly, everything looks exactly the same. Thirdly, [seeing] Scott, Charlene, Jane, Harold – it all came flooding back. There was a lot of talking about memories and going back in time.”
On May 1, Neighbours executive producer Jason Herbison confirmed that Kylie and Jason would be returning for the final send-off episode.
He said the pair were “the ultimate Neighbours couple and it would not feel right to end the show without them”.
“We are thrilled that Jason and Kylie have come home to play a very special part in our series finale,” he said on Twitter.
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