Emmerdale appears to be bringing in another Barton brother as Bradley Riches ‘confirms’ who his character truly is.

A while ago it was announced that the Netflix star would be joining the soap, and fans assumed he may have brought an entirely new family name along with him. But that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Bradley took to Instagram yesterday (April 24) sharing a photo of him and Mike Parr who plays Ross Barton. He captioned the post: “Hello brother.. I guess good looks do run in the family.” So, if Bradley is the newest Barton, how does he fit into the family?

Bradley’s character will reportedly be called Lewis Barton. And from that, the question remains is he James and Emma’s son – or did one of them have a secret child the other never knew about?

Who is Bradley Riches character Lewis Barton?

Up until now we have been under the assumption that Emma has no contact with James or their kids after Finn was born up until she arrived in the village in 2015. At the time the storyline revolved around them having not seen her once in all those years.

So, if Lewis is both James and Emma’s son, then that means the show has to explain the truth – that they did sleep together during those years apart. And that could cause some trouble for Ross, who could be left questioning everything he knows about his family.

It is entirely possible though, that James had a son who he never told the others about. He already had Pete, Ross, Finn and later found out Adam was his, so another secret love child isn’t unexpected.

If he definitely is James’ then he would also have connections to Moira and Matty, fitting him completely in with the Barton family.

However, Lewis could be Emma’s son. And if that is the case if he knows everything about her murderous streak, it could certainly cause some tensions.

We all know Emma had her issues over the years, and couldn’t always make the best decisions when it came to her family. If she got pregnant by another man, perhaps she couldn’t handle the thought of being a mother again and gave him up.

Either way, Ross is going to have a lot of questions. And with the majority of his family not able to answer them, he may have to believe whatever Lewis tells him.

However, it does now open the door to a Pete return. It was only a few weeks ago he was last mentioned, so Emmerdale may be trying to find ways to slide him into conversations before a return.

Emmerdale fans torn over another secret sibling story

While many fans seem to enjoy the idea of adding to the Barton family line, some feel that there could have been a better way to do it. It wasn’t that long ago the Dingles met their secret family member, Caleb. And Victoria got her own secret Sugden brother in John.

Speaking on a Reddit thread, one fan wrote: “I’m surprised. Not particularly mad about it, but do we seriously need another long lost relative storyline? Couldn’t he just have been a cousin?”

Another commented: “I knew they must have regretted killing off most of the Barton’s. I don’t want him to become the next Finn. It will be interesting to see Ross’ reaction, especially if he is James’ son because he had a complex relationship with his dad. Definitely didn’t expect this and now I wonder if we will get a Pete return?”

A third penned: “Another mysterious long-lost unmentioned sibling. That’s quite a lot in the last year..”

However other fans are excited by the idea. One wrote: “Okay, I already love this duo. Ross always adored his younger brother, so it will be so nice to see that family side to him again.”