ITV Coronation Street spoilers: Serious danger for Leanne Battersby as she is drawn into a cult

With Leanne Battersby (Jane Danson) currently in the middle of wedding plans in Coronation Street as she prepares to marry Nick Tilsley (Ben Price), you wouldn’t expect her to be swayed by the first good-looking man who comes along.

But that’s what happens when she meets the charismatic Rowan (Emrhys Cooper) in upcoming episodes and finds herself drawn into a sinister cult.

Leanne has had her hands full recently with step-son Simon Barlow (Alex Bain), whose behaviour went off the rails when his dad Peter (Chris Gascoyne) departed Weatherfield to work on a ship.

Feeling hurt and rejected, Simon took solace in drinking but this was soon out of control. When Simon crashed Leanne’s car while over the limit – and with Nick’s son Sam (Jude Riordan) in the car – it was the final straw.

Upcoming episodes see Simon appearing in court to be sentenced for the drunk driving charge.

Following this, Leanne has a plan to set him back on the straight and narrow and tells Debbie (Sue Devaney) she’s taking Simon to a seminar at the Chariot Square Hotel run by a group called The Institute.

Handily there’s also a wedding fayre on at the same venue, so Leanne suggests that Nick should come too and they can check that out at the same time.

At the Institute meeting, Leanne meets Rowan, who immediately captivates her when he offers her some advice. He encourages her to share her innermost thoughts and feelings, and despite herself, Leanne can feel she’s falling under his spell.

Ben Price told us that as Rowan’s influence over Leanne grows, Nick becomes uneasy about how she’s being drawn in by him.

‘Leanne is normally like, “I think that’s a load of s***” at first, and it’s probably Nick going “No, no, give it a chance, give it a chance.” But she’s not in this,’ he explained.

‘She’s fully invested. Nick is a bit like, “You’re more cynical, Leanne, than me. You’re not being very cynical about this man.” And I don’t get to see him. It almost becomes this man I’m not seeing and he’s taking her away to do the course and he’s taking her to Zooms in another room.’

Zooms in another room? That’s only the start of it.

How deeply is Leanne going to get pulled in by Rowan?