Coronation Street fans are growing increasingly concerned about Leanne Battersby (Jane Danson) and Sam Blakeman (Jude Riordan).

Leanne, as viewers know, has been drawn into a cult called The Institute in recent months. The group is led by a man called Rowan (Emryhs Cooper), who has been doing everything he can to ensure Leanne focuses more on the organisation than her own family.

In one of the most recent developments, Nick Tilsley (Ben Price) walked into the flat to see Leanne and Rowan holding hands and looking at a laptop.

Nick assumed that he had walked in on Leanne having an affair with Rowan. She then stood up, took the computer over to her partner and confirmed what she was actually doing.

To Nick’s shock, on the laptop was an AI version of Oliver, Leanne’s little son. She explained that Nick was looking at a version of what Oliver would look like today, if he was still alive.

This moment brought Leanne a great deal of comfort. After being drawn into the cult and saying goodbye to Simon Barlow (Alex Bain), Leanne has felt isolated from her family, so looking at the image of Oliver – albeit not a real one – made her feel better.

This week in the ITV soap, Leanne turned her attention to Nick’s son Sam.

Toyah, Leanne and Nick face Rowan outside the funeral parlour in Coronation Street
Natasha Blakeman talks to Nick Tilsley outside the hospital in Coronation Street
After Rose’s funeral, Toyah Battersby (Georgia Taylor) and Nick weren’t happy with Leanne after learning she had lied about paying for an upgraded funeral package.

Because they were so distracted with these feelings and their developing chemistry, they didn’t really pick for information from Leanne and Sam, who confirmed they had plans to spend time together.

Despite the fact Nick and Toyah had no idea what they were up to, Coronation Street fans appear to have worked out exactly what Leanne had organised for Sam – and it involves his late mum Natasha.

Taking to X, mans audience members from the ITV soap are now wondering if Leanne has been responsible for getting an AI version of Natasha created.

It’s not the first time fans have speculated how much The Institute uses AI within the business, as some believe Willow, the apparent CEO of the company, isn’t even real.

Sam Blakeman’s mother Natasha was killed in 2021 by evil Harvey Gaskell (Will Mellor).

When Harvey broke out of prison and made his way to Weatherfield, he planned to get revenge on Leanne but ended up shooting Natasha dead instead, unaware the two characters were wearing the same Halloween costume.