Bold and the Beautiful: Thomas Back Soon? B&B Drops MORE Hints Hope’s Ex Returns

Hi there, Bold fans! Well, Hope Logan is on the cusp of a huge letdown in life, and now the CBS soap is dropping more hints that Thomas Forester might be back to pick up the pieces of her life.

It’s Belinda from Soap Dirt, and I’ll tell you about these recent hints pointing to Matthew Atkinson’s comeback to The Bold and the Beautiful. And hey, please click subscribe if you are not following us!

So, in case you lost count, it has been not quite a year—like nine months—since last July 2024 that Thomas was seen on Bold and the Beautiful. That was when he and his insta-fiancée, Paris Buckingham, and his son, Douglas, were in L.A. to reveal their engagement to the family and plan a wedding at the Forester Mansion—a wedding that never happened.

Diamond White, who plays Paris, has since moved on to new projects, but Matt Atkinson hasn’t. That means if Thomas Forester comes home, it should be without his bride-to-be.

And if you recall, Hope asked Thomas last July to break up with Paris and be with her. That was, of course, after their split—after he proposed to Hope for a second time and asked her to move the ring from the necklace to her finger.

She told Thomas that she loved him but wasn’t ready for marriage. As Hope was crying after saying no to the proposal, Thomas walked out because he felt like he would never be enough for her—that Hope would never love him the way he loved her.

Of course, Steffy Forester took advantage of his heartache over that refusal. She told him, “Get your son, get Douglas, leave town,” and had him do it that same day. Thomas did what she suggested, then pretty much got engaged to Paris right away.

Steffy knew about this but didn’t tell anyone in the family. She kept it a secret so it would be a bombshell when Thomas arrived holding Paris’s hand with a big ring on it, hugging Douglas, and talking about their family.

At the time of Matt Atkinson’s appearance in July 2024, we had just found out his wife, Britney, was pregnant with their first child. They had been married for about eight months at that point.

So, this absence of Thomas and the storyline of Carter and Hope’s unlikely, instant romance might have been to cover up a requested leave of absence from Matt Atkinson—for going through his new marriage, the pregnancy, and paternity leave.

Now, though, there are some signs we might be getting Thomas back, in the aftermath of Hope’s life blowing up in her face. With Carter being enraptured by Daphne, the Foresters about to get their company back, and Hope on the fast track to getting fired and losing her line again if Steffy and Ridge get their say (which they should), the timing makes sense.

Signs That Thomas Might Be Returning

A few days ago, B&B’s official Instagram account had a little game called Kiss, Marry, Destroy. You had to pick which one you’d do, and it featured Thomas, Carter, and Finn.

For Carter, the caption was that he stole the company. For Finn, it was that he hooked up with his aunt (though they did put “adopted” below that—still funny, though).

For Thomas, it said that he left the country after getting dumped and immediately got engaged.

Now, I do want to correct whoever runs Bold’s social media accounts because Thomas did not get dumped—far from it. What he got was his marriage proposal refused. But then Hope told him she loved him, wanted him to stay with her, and begged for more time to just keep things going as they were.

She didn’t dump him. As a matter of fact, Thomas was the one who dumped Hope by walking away and moving to Europe with their son.

Encore Episodes Dropping Clues

B&B posted that last week, during a week of rerun episodes that also leaned heavily on Thomas and Hope. If you didn’t watch, Beyond the Gates only used 30 minutes of its 60-minute standard timeslot this past week.

They filled the other 30 minutes by airing some encore episodes of B&B, and usually, when they do this, they curate them carefully to tie into current and upcoming storylines. These aren’t random episodes—they serve a purpose.

I suspect they handpicked these episodes to give a glimpse into future Bold and the Beautiful plots involving Hope.

During that week of encore episodes, four out of five either mentioned Thomas or had significant name drops or appearances from him.

The episodes that aired from February 18th to the 20th focused on the Rome storyline:

• First, Thomas and Hope at the press conference in Rome, being asked by reporters to look into each other’s eyes. They did, all smiles, basking in admiration, while Steffy glared.
• The next episode continued with more of the press conference, ending in Hope kissing Thomas passionately—while a stunned Liam watched in horror after flying to Rome.
• Then, Liam told Wyatt about seeing Hope kiss Thomas.
• The next episode showed Thomas and Hope on the private jet back to L.A., where Hope asked Thomas to say nothing about the kiss—to leave it in Rome.
• Meanwhile, Steffy was smug, knowing they kissed because Liam had told her, and Hope played innocent.
• The final encore episode that aired was from right after the corporate coup, with Ridge at Brooke’s place, ranting about Hope making Thomas so crazy he had to leave the country.
• Ridge blamed Hope and basically said he wouldn’t live on the same property as her, infuriating Brooke.

What This All Means

There’s just a lot of Thomas activity lately—in social media posts, in these encore episodes—and we know Hope Logan is about to face major fallout for her role in stealing Forester Creations from its rightful owners.

By the end of this week, Hope sees Carter kissing Daphne. He seems smitten, and we know Daphne is sticking around. I wouldn’t be surprised if Carter and Daphne embark on a real relationship after he and Hope fall apart.

The actress playing Daphne was part of the new cast photo, so I don’t think she and Carter are just a fling.

Plus, Ridge will never forgive Carter if he stays with Hope. But if Carter ditches Hope—like Ridge told him to—he could probably keep his job and revive his friendship with Ridge.

So, if Hope loses her job, her fashion line, and her boyfriend, I could see her calling Thomas for comfort.

And if things have cooled off between Thomas and Paris, who knows? He might come running.

If the Carter-Hope ticking time bomb brings back Thomas, I’ll be happy to see it explode!

What Do You Think?

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