While the past year has been marked by several departures in “Un Si Grand Soleil”, fans of the daily soap opera of France 2 could soon be surprised to see a character very popular with the public return.
The departures follow one another and are not alike in Un Si Grand Soleil. Over the past two years, fans of the daily soap opera from France 2 have witnessed the departure of several key figures from the soap opera, such as Jérémy Banster (Julien), Maëlle Mietton (Alice), Pauline Paolini (Myriam, who died brutally and tragically) or Marie-Clotilde Ramos-Ibáñez (Sofia).
Fortunately, a large part of the main cast, including Mélanie Maudran, Emma Colberti, Moïse Santamaria and Fred Bianconi, still appears in the credits of Un Si Grand Soleil, to the delight of fans. And other actors and characters have joined the ranks over the months. With the recent arrival of new families, such as the Cresson and the Laumière.
The production and the authors of Un Si Grand Soleil do not forget the first seasons of the soap opera and could well reserve a nice surprise for viewers in the months to come, with the return of a character who caused a lot of talk at the start of the adventure.
Eliott soon to be back in Un Si Grand Soleil?
Recently met during the Monte-Carlo Television Festival, Toma de Matteis, the producer of Un Si Grand Soleil, teased us about the possible imminent return of Eliott, the son of Eve, played by Stéphane Monpetit.
“I often meet people who ask me for Eliott’s return”entrusted Toma de Matteis to our microphone before adding that the authors seem to be thinking about the possibility of such a return, a year and a half after the last appearance of the character on the screen.
“It’s not totally impossible. I’m giving you a little teaser of season 6. It’s not crazy to imagine Eliott coming back. I won’t say more”.
It remains to be seen how the son of Eve could reappear in the series, and when this big return could take place. The mystery is for the moment well kept.
Why did Stéphane Monpetit leave the series in 2021?
Very present in the intrigues during the first three seasons of Un Si Grand Soleil, Eliott Faure, ready to do anything to achieve his ends, had quickly established himself as a darling of viewers due to his troubled personality and his tendency to dabble in the worst shenanigans.
But then, why did the character disappear from Montpellier at the start of 2022? Quite simply because the authors then felt that they had reached the end of what they wanted to tell with Eliott.
“For five years, with Olivier Szulzyngerwe work with the idea that the characters are not immutable”explained Toma de Matteis. “A character like Eliott, for example, had wonderful adventures. I think that part of the public liked this character a lot. But he had reached the end of the adventures that he could live while remaining in the middle of the other characters. So typically, we agreed with Stéphane to say to ourselves “We are going to stop the character here, because we have reached the end””.
Screenshot/FTV
An end of the race for this “bad guy” from Un Si Grand Soleil which coincided with the desire of his interpreter, Stéphane Monpetit, to devote himself to other projects. “Some actors sometimes also want something else after several years of work. The presence of Stéphane Monpetit in Un Si Grand Soleil is 250 days of work. He worked a lot, we worked a lot together”.
“When we get to the end of that, there are probably series, but I’m not targeting anyone in particular, who would be like, ‘Listen, we’re bringing Eliott down a bit and then we’ll find a lot of other things for him to do in a few months. And even if it’s not quite in line with what he was able to do before, it’s not very serious””.
This vision of things, the authors of Un Si Grand Soleil do not share it, preferring to do without a character completely if they have no more ideas to provide their trajectory in the series.
“With Olivier, we really tried to build a series that fully respects the psychology of the characters”concludes Toma de Matteis. “There is therefore sometimes a moment when the character no longer has its place among the others. Either he has screwed up too much, or he has alienated too many people, or life as a couple is no longer possible for him”.
The possible return of Eliott during season 6 of Un Si Grand Soleil, which will begin at the start of the school year on France 2, could however prove that no decision is final and that any character can one day resurface.