Willis Family - Joshua Willis

Joshua Willis, played by Harley Bonner, made his first screen appearance on 20 May 2013. The character was announced on 7 February 2013, while Bonner's casting was revealed on 18 February. Bonner is the son of Neighbours actress, Carla Bonner (Stephanie Scully). The actor told Daniel Kilkelly from Digital Spy that his agent had called him about the audition for the role of Joshua and he was initially hesitant about going for it. He explained "As much as it was a fantastic opportunity, I was conscious of it looking like I was following in mum's footsteps, and I'll be honest, I would really prefer to be seen as my own person. Anyway, my agent, who was very aware of how I felt, convinced me that this was really worth pursuing. When I was shortlisted, I was super excited and then I was offered the role, so it was a relatively smooth process." Bonner said that he was nervous on his first day on set because he and his on-screen family had only just met and had to pretend to be a family unit straight away.

Joshua is the teenage son of Brad (Kip Gamblin) and Terese Willis (Rebekah Elmaloglou). Bonner stated that Joshua is driven and does not let anything get in his way. He gets on well with his parents, but has a love-hate relationship with his twin sister Imogen (Ariel Kaplan). When asked if a romance could develop between his character and Amber Turner (Jenna Rosenow), Bonner commented "Hmmm, there's not a lot I can say now but there is a bit of a connection, but I'm not sure where it will go!" Joshua is an elite swimmer, which means Bonner had to embrace his character's hobby and spend a lot of time in a local pool during filming.