Neighbours boss pays tribute to star after heartbreaking death episode

The following are spoilers for “Neighbours” from Thursday’s episode (February 1).

Neighbours boss Jason Herbison has paid tribute to actor Takaya Honda following the shocking death of his character David Tanaka.

Takaya, who has played the role of David since 2016, returned to the popular Australian soap opera for the 2023 reboot. However, David met an untimely end in the final scenes when he and Eden Shaw fell off a cliff following a brawl between Eden and Leo Tanaka.

With both of them clinging to their lives, David made the selfless decision to advise them to seek medical attention for Eden first when help arrived.

Related: Neighbours stars feared David and Aaron’s steamy scene would be censored

When David’s husband Aaron Brennan and Leo returned to help David, they found that he had already passed away after downplaying his own injuries.

Following the heartbreaking scenes, Neighbours executive producer Jason Herbison paid tribute to the actor and explained why David’s death was a deciding factor in his exit.

“Takaya is a valued member of the cast of Neighbours and a friend to many of us on the show. Takaya had already given us plenty of notice before our big ‘finale’ that he was planning to leave the show,” he told TV Tonight.

“In creating this new chapter, we felt it was crucial to see David, Aaron and Nicolette together once again as a modern family unit before formulating a story that would allow the others to stay if David left. In soap opera tradition, this meant a tragic death.”

Related: Neighbours star Hannah Monson reveals Nicolette’s death fears in tragic week

Exclusively in conversation with Digital Spy Regarding David’s exit, Takaya talked about his return to the show and his heartbreaking exit.

“When the show’s return was announced, Neighbours basically asked me if I would be interested in returning,” he said.

“I told them, as I had done for the past eight years, that it all depended on the story, and I essentially said, ‘What do you have?’

“I wanted to come back and really finish David off because obviously at the end of the final season in 2022, everything had to come to an end and they wanted David and Aaron to have a nice ending to wrap it up that way.

“For David’s return, they implemented this storyline almost in its entirety – at least as far as the events up to the moment of death are concerned – and I was thrilled.”

Neighbors releases new episodes Monday to Thursday for free on Amazon Freevee in the UK and US. In Australia, the show airs Monday to Thursday at 4pm on Channel 10, with a repeat at 6.30pm on 10 Peach.

Read more Neighbors Reporting on our special homepage

You might like it too