Hollyoaks is a British television soap opera that was first broadcast on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. The following is a list of characters that first appear in the show in 2022, by order of first appearance. All characters are introduced by the programme's executive producer Lucy Allan. Zain Rizwaan (Jonas Khan) and Zoe Anderson (Garcia Brown) made their debut appearances in February. They were followed by Eric Foster (Angus Castle-Doughty), the brother of Tony (Nick Pickard) and Verity Hutchinson (Eva O'Hara). Nadira Valli (Ashling O'Shea), a love interest for Shaq Qureshi (Omar Maalik), began appearing in March, and in April, Glynis Barber joined the cast as gangster Norma Crow. May marked the first appearance of Vicky Grant (Anya Lawrence), a foster child for Scott Drinkwell (Ross Adams), and she was followed by her boyfriend, Joseph Holmes (Olly Rhodes), in June. Matt Lapinskas also made a guest appearance in June as Alex Ramsdan. October saw Jon-Paul Bell cast as Beau Ramsey, the long-lost son of Tony Hutchinson (Nick Pickard). Shing Lin Leong (Izzie Yip) then debuted in December as Honour Chen-Williams' (Vera Chok) niece. Additionally, multiple other characters appeared throughout the year.

Zain Rizwaan (also Randeri), played by Jonas Khan, made his first appearance on 21 February 2022. The character and casting was announced on 15 February 2022. Zain is an iman and was introduced to serve as a love interest for Misbah Maalik (Harvey Virdi) when he arrives in the village. Zain was billed as an "agony aunt" for the character and others in the village. On his casting, Khan said that he was excited to join Hollyoaks due to its progressiveness, feeling that the soap "always looks to push boundaries". Of his character, the actor said that he "will look to bring some spirituality and guidance to the Maalik family and rest of the village".

On 8 May 2024, it was announced that Khan would be exiting the role after 2 years. Zain's final scenes aired on 2 July 2024.

Zoe Anderson, played by Garcia Brown, made her first appearance on the episode broadcast on 21 February. Brown auditioned for the role after feeling very low about her career. Zoe was introduced as the granddaughter of Pearl Anderson (Dawn Hope) and the new detective of the Hollyoaks village. Zoe is described as being dedicated to her job and not putting anything above it whilst also loving to party and have fun when not working, with Brown stating that there are two sides to the character. In addition to her work as a detective, Zoe's storylines have included developing a relationship with Sam Chen-Williams (Matthew McGivern), her fractured relationship with her mother Sharon Bailey (Jamelia), discovering she is pregnant, breaking up with Sam and dealing with Sam's obsessive behaviour following their breakup. Zoe was also involved in a knife crime storyline. Brown has said that she enjoys playing the character. For her role as Zoe, Brown was longlisted for "Best Newcomer" at the 2022 Inside Soap Awards.

Wendy Blissett, played by Jennifer Armour, made her first appearance on 4 March 2022. She was introduced as the daughter of Silas Blissett (Jeff Rawle) and the great-aunt of Bobby Costello (Jayden Fox). She is invited to the village by Mercedes McQueen (Jennifer Metcalfe) when she believes that Bobby has been speaking to her through an app. Although at first appearing wanting to help Mercedes with Bobby, even stopping her from taking cocaine, it is eventually revealed she is actually working with Silas to take Bobby away from the McQueen family. Wendy departs on 21 June 2022. She is then killed off-screen in a suspicious road traffic accident, with it being heavily implied that Silas had something to do with it.

Speaking to Inside Soap, Armour teased: "Her motives and willingness to please Silas will be explained, as there is an emotional element to the relationship with her father yet to come to light. Things will get scary!" Jennifer also explained her rivalry with Mercedes: "Every time she feels any sympathy, Mercedes proves her wrong by showing what Wendy believes to be her true colours... Mercedes wants to demonstrate she's devoted to her son, but with Wendy subtly manipulating her, she gets stressed and it comes to a head. Mercedes loses it and Wendy knows she can use that against her. She has convinced Bobby that Mercedes isn't happy with him and they'd be better off living separately. It's horrible!"

Eric Foster, played by Angus Castle-Doughty, made his first appearance on 8 March 2022. Eric is the estranged brother of established characters Tony (Nick Pickard) and Verity Hutchinson (Eva O'Hara), and Verity welcomes the socially awkward Eric into the village. It was confirmed that Eric's arrival would kick off a new storyline for the family, with their dynamic set to be examined. Speaking about joining the show, Castle-Doughty said: "From the moment I started, I've felt really welcomed into the fold. Eva and I clicked straight away – we've had many discussions about our characters' relationship. Eric's upcoming storyline is topical, important, and one which hasn't been covered in soap before, and we are working really hard to do it justice."

On 9 May 2023, it was confirmed that Castle-Doughty would be exiting Hollyoaks. Eric's final scenes aired on 10 May 2023.