| Aaron Brennan | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Neighbours character | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Portrayed by | Matt Wilson | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Duration | 2015–present | ||||||||||||||||||||
| First appearance | 16 June 2015 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Classification | Present; regular | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Introduced by | Jason Herbison | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Aaron Brennan is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Matt Wilson. The actor originally auditioned for the role of Tyler Brennan and participated in a long casting process, during which he sent the producers a recording of himself performing a scene, before attending an audition. Producers ultimately selected Travis Burns to play Tyler, but created the additional role of Aaron for Wilson. Like Tyler, Aaron was introduced as the brother of established character Mark Brennan (Scott McGregor). Wilson relocated from Sydney to Melbourne for filming, and debuted four months after Tyler's arrival, on 16 June 2015. The character was initially intended to be a guest part, but due to Wilson's "endearing quality", he was promoted to the full-time cast.
Aaron is portrayed as a confident, happy, occasionally naive, optimist. He was initially shown to be closer to Tyler than Mark, but the brothers were bonded when their estranged father was introduced. The character had a unique entrance to the show as an exotic dancer performing at The Waterhole. Wilson took dance lessons ahead of his first scenes. Aaron has embarked on various careers throughout his duration, including bodyguard and social media manager. Aaron is openly gay, and he has formed relationships with established regular Nate Kinski (Meyne Wyatt), despite initially having nothing in common, and later Tom Quill (Kane Felsinger) and David Tanaka (Takaya Honda). The character has received a positive response from television critics and viewers. He was named Best New Male Character of 2015 by a columnist for Soap World. Wilson remained as a regular cast member until the show's finale episode, which was broadcast on 28 July 2022. Aaron returned permanently on 13 November 2023.