Shortland Street is a New Zealand television soap opera. It was first broadcast on 25 May 1992 and currently airs on television network TVNZ 2. The following is a list of characters that appeared on the show in 2018 by order of first appearance. All characters are introduced by the shows executive producer Maxine Fleming. The 26th season of Shortland Street began airing on 15 January 2018. Dion Tai Dion Tai, played by Sonny Tupu, made his first appearance on 23 January 2018. Dion arrives at the hospital as a famous rugby league star for a charity photo shoot. Upon running into the star struck Jack (Reuben Milner), he shocked all by outwardly discriminating on him for his sexuality and appearing to flirt with Sass Warner (Lucy Lovegrove). However upon running into Jack again, it transpired that Dion himself was closeted gay and in fact attracted to Jack. The two began a casual relationship with Dion too afraid to come out due to his high-profile rugby league career. However, with the ultimatum offered of losing Jack, Dion came out on national television and the two entered a loving committed relationship. Shortly into the relationship Dion began having health problems and was devastatingly diagnosed with terminal melanoma. He retired from sport and despite initial hesitation, allowed Jack to nurse him; eventually dying in his arms. He consumed brownies laced with medicinal marijuana. Weeks after his death, Damo, who was dieting, consumed them, and became badly impaired with hallucinations. Zoe Carlson Zoe Carlson, played by Holly Shervey, made her first screen appearance on 9 April 2018. She initially stayed with Vinnie and Nicole's place, but when she overstayed her welcome, the couple tried to get rid of her, but when Zoe left bad reviews, it turned out that she is the younger sister of Kate Nathan. She was mismatched by Dawn to be Curtis' love interest, but Dawn has no idea that Zoe is Curtis' step-aunt. She got the PA job after Leanne was recovering from a broken wrist and Sass Warner moving to Italy to take care of Hawks, despite her lack of experience. She has developed feelings for Chris Warner. On the day when she was supposed to be fired from the job, she emotionally blackmailed Chris by disclosing her false cancer claim. Before Chris almost saw through her lies, Zoe managed to re-cover her story by saying her cancer