UPDATE: |Coronation Street’s Carl Webster star almost had another role in Weatherfield 17 years ago News

Things could have been different for Jonathan Howard, who has appeared in a string of Hollywood blockbusters

Coronation Street star Jonathan Howard almost played another character on the show as he insisted that appearing in the long-running show is “as big a thrill” as starring in a Hollywood film.

The 38-year-old actor – who has appeared in the likes of World War Z, Thor: The Dark World and Godzilla: King of the Monsters – arrived on the cobbles earlier this month as Kevin and Debbie Webster’s long-lost brother Carl.

As viewers of the ITV soap witnessed last week, Carl appeared in Weatherfield for the first time, having only ever been mentioned by name in the show, after a minor collision in Frescho’s car park with Abi Wester, who he didn’t know is his sister-in-law.

His arrival comes amid a difficult time for the Webster clan. Kevin recently learned that he had testicular cancer. After undergoing surgery to remove the testicle, he has since discovered he needs more treatment and has begun sessions of chemotherapy.

Meanwhile, Debbie was referred to have a memory assessment as she was told she could have young on-set vascular dementia, with Carl having recently discovered the news.

But things could have been very different as Dream Team star Jonathan, who hails from Lancashire, previously auditioned to play Gary Windass on the soap in 2008 but lost out in the final round to Mikey North, so headed to drama school instead.

He said in an interview with the Mirror: “It’s come full circle. It feels like the universe has brought me back to Coronation Street and the north of England. I remember going for the screen test for Gary Windass and I was down to the last handful. I was really disappointed not to get it.

“In the moment, it was hard to have a philosophical outlook on it, but at the same time I knew that the universe had got something else for me. I wouldn’t have had a career in America if I’d got the part of Gary. And I wouldn’t have met my wife, who I met at drama school.”

But now his time has come to tread the cobbles, the star, who has been based in the US for two decades, couldn’t be happier. “Being in Coronation Street is just as big a thrill as being in a Hollywood film or an American TV series,” he told the publication. “It’s all the same, everyone’s telling stories, whether it’s a big $200m movie or a soap like Corrie.

“As a Lancashire lad born and raised, the dream was to be in ‘Coronation Street’ – that was the ceiling, so it feels wonderfully surreal to now be acting with people like Kevin Webster that I watched religiously as a kid.

“My friends ask me, ‘what you have been up to today?’ and I reply ‘I took Tracy Barlow for a drink in the Rovers Return!’ It’s just incredible to say these things. I’m staying with my mum and I sleep in my childhood bedroom. It’s been really nice to come home – going back to my roots.”

Carl is the son of Bill and Elaine Webster and was bron in Germany where his parents were living at the time. When he was nine years old, his father Bill left Germany and returned to Weatherfield after his mother Elaine had an affair.

Previously sharing details about the character, the actor revealed: “Carl is Kevin and Debbie Webster’s little brother, they have different mums so he’s a bit younger than they are.

“He comes into Weatherfield to ostensibly be with his brother because he’s found out he’s got cancer but then we’ll discover Carl’s got some money issues back in Germany where he’s been living.”

Jonathan went on to reveal: “I don’t think Carl is going to be too bad but I don’t think he’s going to be good either, I think his heart is in the right place but he might be holding on to some resentment towards his brother because he’s left him to be on his own his whole life.”