Emmerdale star Jurell Carter has confirmed he has left his role of Nate Robinson after five years, with his final scenes having already aired.
It had been feared Nate had been caught up in the barn fire at Butler’s Farm earlier this week, but it has since transpired he had quietly left the village for a new job in Shetland after being alienated from his family.
His off-screen exit came after his dad Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley) and on-off love interest Tracy Robinson (Amy Walsh) wrongly believed he had kissed step-mother and former lover Moira Dingle (Natalie J Robb), when in fact she’d suffered a seizure.
After a punch-up with Cain, Tracy told Nate her and daughter Frankie would no-longer be coming with him to start a new life and he departed solo, with Jurell explaining that everything the character had worked to achieve had ‘shattered apart’.
He says: ‘Nate wanted a relationship with Cain and to be part of the whole Dingle family. That’s been massive for him and he feels that he’s got everything together. He’s got this unit, he’s got the Dingles, he’s got Tracy, he’s got Frankie. But it feels like everything is just falling apart overnight.
‘It’s a pivotal moment in terms of Nate going forward and his decision leaving everyone behind. It’s not what he wanted to do, but he’s been left with no choice.’
Jurell added: ‘He’s devastated and he’s heartbroken.’
It’s not the ending many fans might have expected for the popular character, who arrived in the Dales back in 2019.
Speaking about his exit, Jurell said: ‘The character of Nate and myself share a mindset of wanting to go onto a next chapter, but also just being emotional and sad over leaving everything behind. That’s how I feel as an actor, in terms of leaving a show that I love.
‘I would speak to some of my colleagues and say it’s a weird one, because it’s not like I hate my job, it’s not like I hate my surroundings or the people that I’m working with. I love everyone and I love the job.
‘I’m excited for my future but I’m also sad to be leaving behind such a beautiful show and beautiful people.’
Confirming it was his decision to leave, Jurell explained that it felt like ‘the perfect time to try and move onto something else’.
‘It’s always been in the back of my head,’ he said. ‘My agent was itching for me to go probably a few years ago, but I said to him that it doesn’t feel like the right time, I’m in the right place and I’d know when the time is right. It never felt like the right time.
‘But I feel like I’ve reached the point where it’s now or never, in a sense that if I don’t do it now I’ll… not live to regret it, but always be wondering ‘what if?’ I just didn’t want that feeling.’
However, Jurell said he will be ‘watching and supporting’ the cast, who he called ‘friends for life’.
‘At the minute it feels like I’ve just got some time off and I’m going back soon. But knowing that I’m not, it’s such a weird feeling. But I’m definitely going to be supportive because we do some amazing storylines,’ he added.
