Emmerdale's series producer Kate Oates has revealed a "ruthless" new character is set to join the cast.
Although plot details surrounding the newcomer are yet to be revealed, Kate hinted that the latest addition will shake up the dynamics of the village after he or she is introduced into the soap later this year.
She told Inside Soap magazine: "In the autumn there will be a new arrival with a very ruthless streak.
"It's going to affect some of the 'Emmerdale' old guard and mix up the character groups a little bit. Put it this way - the person will have a surprising allegiance."
Kate also hinted at an explosive autumn for the ITV soap as it welcomes back Aaron Livesy, played by Danny Miller, who departed the show in April 2012 after going on the run from the police.
The former 'Coronation Street' producer confirmed a current storyline will come to a head with scenes being shot away from the village.
Kate said: "We've got some big plans for the autumn ... we've got Aaron coming back.
"There will also be a huge pay-off for a story that started earlier this year, and I'm looking forward to it.
"It will happen in two stages and will be filmed somewhere away from the village. I know that's quite cryptic but that is all you're getting from me."

Wayne Rooney escort Jenny Thompson has blasted "nasty" 'Big Brother' star Helen Wood.
The 25-year-old former prostitute, who engaged in a three-in-a-bed romp with the England footballer and reality star in 2009, thinks her former pal is showing her true colours on the Channel 5 reality show.
Jenny said: "She's been quite nasty. Jale [Karaturp] was eating her food on the sofa and Helen called her a 'f***ing slug'. I just thought there was no need for it. She's being a bully.
"I don't think she's doing herself any favours. She said in her audition tape that she wants people to see a different side to her, but now she's in there slagging people off."
Jenny and Helen, 27, fell out after Jenny decided to sell her story about her trysts with Wayne.
However, the former hooker doesn't think Helen's antics on 'Big Brother' are affecting the footballer, who is currently in Brazil playing for England in the World Cup.
She told new! magazine: "I think Wayne is his own person and his football is his football. If he's not playing well, that's down to him. They probably don't even watch 'BB'."
Meanwhile, Jenny could soon be joining her former friend in the 'Big Brother' house as its rumoured the mum-of-one may be a late entrant on the show.

Binky Felstead was taken to hospital after burning her leg.
The 'Made in Chelsea' star was rushed to A&E in New York - where she and her cast mates are filming the upcoming Big Apple-set spin-off of the hit E4 reality show - yesterday (23.06.14) following an undisclosed mishap.
She sarcastically wrote on Twitter: "Always love a trip to A&E (sic)"
The message was enough to cause concern among her 700,000 followers, leading to the brunette beauty assuring fans she was OK.
She later wrote: "Burnt my leg- but I've well and truly lubed it up with lots of antiseptic cream! I'm on the mend (sic)"
Binky is currently filming E4's 'Made in Chelsea: New York' in the US and viewers have been left wondering the status of her relationship with Alex Mytton, who confessed to cheating on her in the last series of the show.
But while her romantic relationship continues to be a source of drama, it seems the 24-year-old star has mended another relationship - with former best friend Cheska Hull.
The pair have been posing for lots of cosy photos together during their stay in New York, including a recent New York Yankees baseball game.

Ed Sheeran will launch the first interactive full-length music TV advert on Thursday (26.06.14).
The 'Sing' hitmaker, whose second album 'x' is currently number one on the iTunes chart in 65 countries after being released yesterday (23.06.14), will feature in the advert which will allow viewers to vote on which song from his new record he will perform in its entirety.
Ed said: "For me, this is a really cool way to show songs from the album that fans will have never seen performed in this way before.
"It gives my fans the chance to decide which songs from the new album they want to see most, their involvement is really important to me."
The track which receives the most votes via Twitter will premiere in the final advert break of 'The Big Bang Theory' on E4, with the first section of the innovative two-part promo airing prior to the start of the show, featuring Ed explaining the idea and social voting mechanism.
During the programme, the amount of hashtag mentions across Twitter will be monitored in real time to determine which track Ed will perform.
Jack Melhuish, Marketing Director for Atlantic Records, said: "Ed's new album is a very special record. We wanted to find a way to reflect the strength of the songs in a more uninterrupted way than a standard TV ad.
"As well as harness the huge amount of social engagement that Ed is at the centre of to do something original and compelling "
The advert will also debut on Ed's YouTube channel youtube.com/edsheeran, with the winning performance uploaded for his global audience to view the day after it has aired on TV.
Ed will also take to the stage at Glastonbury festival this week at Worthy Farm in Somerset.

Courtney Love claims Kurt Cobain was "desperate" to be a huge rock star.
The Hole singer, who was married to the Nirvana frontman, who committed suicide in 1994, insists Kurt wanted to be well-known, despite claims he found it a burden being so famous and successful.
Speaking in a National Geographic miniseries 'The 90s: The Last Great Decade', she said: "He wrote to every major [and] minor label, 'We'll pay. Let us be on your label'.
"He was desperate to be the biggest rock star in the world. But he made it look like it was thrust upon him."
The band - also made up of Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic - eventually signed to independent record label Sub Pop in 1989 and later to major label DGC Records.
They sold more than 25 million records in the US alone and over 75 million worldwide.
Meanwhile, Courtney, who had 21-year-old daughter Frances with Kurt, recently said it was "time to make amends" with Kurt's former band mate, Dave, after decades of turmoil and bad blood.
The pair put aside their problems at Nirvana's induction into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in April and even hugged on stage to prove they were working on their friendship.

Li Bingbing says she can't get a boyfriend because men are scared of the characters she plays.
The 41-year-old actress is currently starring as Su Yueming alongside Mark Wahlberg, Nicola Peltz and Stanley Tucci in 'Transformers: Age of Extinction' and she's admitted that because her movie character's are usually strong women, men are too scared to date her.
Quizzed on what her plans were for the future, she confessed: "I hope I can find a boyfriend. It's a little bit difficult, because I am such a very, very tough lady ... So guys are just scared of me."
Bingbing - who also plays trained assassin Ada Wong in zombie flick 'Resident Evil: Retribution' - has revealed that 'Transformers' director Michael Bay gave her more fighting scenes in the upcoming fourth instalment of the series, which follows on from the original trilogy, after he witnessed her martial arts skills.
She explained to Collider: "I told him I can do Kung Fu, I used to do a lot of Kung Fu movies in China, and one day after shooting the poster he saw that I can kick very high and he saw that I kick so much and he said, 'I have more scenes for you, more fight scenes, I'd love for you to fight'.
"Now you can see I have a fight scene in the elevator. It was not in the script originally, he added it for me."

Edgar Ramirez is in talks to star in 'Doctor Strange'.
The 'Zero Dark Thirty' actor - who is currently starring as a Jesuit priest in the supernatural thriller 'Deliver Us From Evil' - is in talks with the movie's director Scott Derrickson to star in his upcoming Marvel comic book picture.
Edgar told IGN.com: "We're talking. We've been talking."
Official cast details for the movie haven't been announced and the parts of Doctor Stephen Strange and his nemesis Baron Mordo are yet to be filled, although the 37-year-old failed to specify which role he is in contention for.
Oscar-winning actor Jared Leto - who picked up the gong for Best Supporting Actor at this year's Academy Awards for his role in 'Dallas Buyers Club'- is also rumoured to star in the movie.
Meanwhile, 'Prometheus' screenwriter John Spaihts has entered in to talks to pen the script which follows the neurosurgeon - who becomes a Sorcerer Supreme - as he tries to protect the earth from magical and mystical threats.
The first draft of the 'Doctor Strange' script has already been penned by Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer and the film makers have called in Avenger's director and Marvel Studio's president Kevin Feige to produce the movie.

Coleen Rooney visited Brazil's famous Christ the Redeemer statue yesterday (23.06.14).
The 28-year-old star enjoyed some sight-seeing in Rio de Janeiro with parents Tony and Colette and sons Kai, four, and 13-month-old Klay ahead of their return to the UK following the exit of husband Wayne Rooney's team England from the World Cup.
As well as posing for a selfie with the statue in the background, Coleen also posted online a photograph of herself, her parents and Klay in front of the statue.
She captioned the happy family picture: "I appreciate my life so much and am thankful for the things I have and have achieved over the years."
A third picture yesterday showed her and Kai enjoying the sunset on the beach, in what is expected to be their last evening in Brazil.
It is expected the family will travel back to the UK today (24.06.14) after England's game against Costa Rica.
And Coleen recently admitted she was looking forward to a holiday with her spouse once the tournament ended.
She said: "If England won the World Cup we'd go on holiday. We'll find out dates of when Wayne has to be back in training, so from whenever they get kicked out they get three weeks off.
"Out of the year, three weeks holiday is not a lot, but because they play for the country they've got to be proud. We need a break. Wayne's had a big season."

Lana Del Rey insists she doesn't find dying young "glam".
The 'Ultraviolence' singer has defended herself following a twitter rant from Frances Bean Cobain - the daughter of late rocker Kurt Cobain, who committed suicide aged 27 in 1994 - who slammed her for "romanticising" early death in a recent interview.
In a series of tweets which have now been removed from her account, Lana, 28, wrote: "it's all good. He was asking me a lot [about] your dad I said I liked him because he was talented not because he died young.
"the other half of what I said wasn't really related to the people he mentioned/ I don't find that part of music glam either (sic)"
In her Twitter posting, 21-year-old Frances - whose mother is Courtney Love - urged the 'Video Games' singer to "embrace" life after she said in the interview that she wishes she was dead and thinks it's glamorous to die young.
She tweeted: "@LanaDelRey the death of young musicians isn't something to romanticize (cont)
"I'll never know my father because he died young & it becomes a desirable feat because ppl like u think it's "cool"(cont)
"Well, it's f**king not. Embrace life, because u only get one life. The ppl u mentioned wasted that life.Don't be 1 of those ppl
"LanaDelRey ur too talented to waste it away. (sic)."

Ed Sheeran thinks Taylor Swift is like a "middle-aged" woman.
The 'Sing' hitmaker - who showed off a Drake-inspired needlepoint made for him by his famous friend in recent documentary 'Nine Days and Nights of Ed Sheeran' - thinks the 22-year-old singer's choice of hobbies make her seem old beyond her years.
He said: "I know she's 24 but she's a sort of middle-aged woman trapped in a 24 year old's body. She hangs out with her cat and sews things."
And Ed admitted he never made a gift in return for the canvas, which hangs on his wall.
Asked if he made anything for Taylor, he told TIME magazine: "No, but I'm not a very crafty sort of person. She's very crafty."
Meanwhile, the 23-year-old singer claimed his own "soul age" changes day to day, depending on what he is doing at the time.
He said: "My soul age differs from day to day. It can be 8 or 80. It just depends on what I'm doing. If I'm working it's usually pretty spot-on for work, but if I'm with my friends and the clock's off I'll go back to being young."

Katie Price wants to help set up a theme park for disabled children and adults.
The former glamour model has a 12-year-old disabled son, Harvey, who was born with a limited pituitary gland and suffers from a range of disorders, including Autism.
Katie claims current attractions don't have enough for people with physical limitations and learning difficulties to enjoy and she wants to change that with a park designed specifically for them.
Speaking on her new FUBAR Radio show which aired today (24.06.14), she said: "In the summer holidays, when you've got kids that are able to do things, there are loads of things, Alton Towers, Thorpe Park or Chessington [World of Adventures].
"What is there for disabled kids or adults? There are no rides for wheelchairs, there is disabled access but I wish they would tag on some kind of theme-park on the side that stimulates their brain."
Katie, 36, added: "[It could] have rides that wheelchairs could go on, so they wouldn't be left out. It would be something I would love to do. I have looked into and obviously it's millions and millions but if the government could get behind it, I would so love to do that, set up a theme park for families with able and unable children to go and enjoy the day."
The brunette beauty is pregnant with her fifth child and her second with estranged husband Kieran Hayler, and as well as Harvey - whose dad is her ex-boyfriend Dwight Yorke - she also has Junior, eight and Princess Tiaamii, six, from her marriage to Peter Andre, and 10-month-old son Jett with Kieran.

Cheryl Cole turned heads in a vibrant orange t-shirt and trousers as she arrived at the Emirates Stadium in London for 'The X Factor' auditions.