There's a new big bad villain on the way to Coronation Street next year.

Yes, that's right: there's going to be someone else following in Richard Hillman and Pat Phelan's footsteps - well, kind of. Coronation Street show runner Iain MacLeod revealed the news of the "long-range" super villain during a press event on Monday, as he confirmed one Weatherfield resident is set to be killed off as the Underworld factory explodes. He explained that the factory collapse is going to appear as an accident at first, however the mystery will be "revealed to be a mystery and it'll have been some kind of criminal enterprise that causes it all to fall down." And eventually, the Weatherfield residents will begin to realise that the factory collapse is actually the work of a twisted person among them - so, the "super villain" is going to be an already-established character. MacLeod explained that they are going to be different to some fully-blown baddies, like Pat Phelan or Richard Hillman, and that things are going to "rapidly snowball" for them in the new year. He said [via the Mirror]:

“Corrie can have baddies who come in, burn bright and then are gone, but also a more long-range type, like Mike Baldwin, who is ruthless and self-serving and rides roughshod over everybody. “We're designing a character who is more of that latter type, who can stay in the show forever as an antagonist just messing up everyone's lives. We're going with this character on this journey, you go in seeing their intentions were good but things rapidly snowball. “By the end of 2019 there will be a new, complicated villainous presence on the cobbles."

He continued by explaining the the future-villain is going to move gradually into their new role, and that the change will happen "through desperation and through corruption of their original intentions." He added:

“No one flicks a switch in this character's head that makes them bad. It happens organically through desperation and through corruption of their original intentions. "It's about small choices that can force you into a role that you never saw for yourself."

Carla Connor is one of the characters who gets caught in the fallout of it all, as many Weatherfield residents blame her for the factory collapse - which, eventually, leads to her mental health deteriorating. There's going to be a standalone episode focusing solely on Carla's mental health, which will also lead to the big reveal of who was behind Underworld's collapse.