Fans Are Furious as Thomas’s 13-Month Return Ends Without Hope, Douglas, or Any Real Purpose

When The Bold and the Beautiful finally brought back Thomas Forrester (Matthew Atkinson) in September 2025 after over a year off-screen, viewers were ready for a whirlwind. What they got instead? A two-week cameo that has left fans reeling — not in excitement, but in utter confusion and disappointment.

The Return That Never Took Off

Thomas’s September 2nd reappearance should have been explosive. After 13 months in Paris, he walked back into a radically different Forrester Creations. Hope Logan was in charge. Carter Walton was her new boyfriend. Douglas had grown, both emotionally and physically. It was the perfect setup for confrontations, confessions, and chaos.

Instead? He made polite conversation. Spouted opinions about Ridge’s love triangle with Brooke and Taylor. Gave Brooke a weirdly intimate hug. Then flew back to Paris by September 16th.

There were zero scenes with Hope, zero scenes with Douglas, and no emotional closure for fans who had spent over a year theorizing about his return.

Was this a reintroduction… or just a blip?

The Paris Breakup That Happened Off-Screen

Adding insult to injury, B&B handled Thomas’s breakup with Paris Buckingham in the most dismissive way possible: it happened off-screen. Thomas casually mentioned it as if he were updating someone on a lunch meeting, and that was that.

No confrontation. No heartbreak. No dialogue for Diamond White, who played Paris and reportedly learned of the breakup from the broadcast itself.

Her sarcastic Instagram post — “Well thanks for letting me know 😂” — says it all.

How does a daytime show write off a major engagement without giving the audience a single scene?

The Hope Logan Void: Unforgivable

Perhaps the biggest slap in the face to longtime fans was the total lack of scenes between Thomas and Hope. Not even a hallway glance. No boardroom tension. Nothing.

This is the same woman Thomas was obsessed with for years — the mother of his child’s adopted sister. The woman he once manipulated with a mannequin. Their last interaction ended on ambiguous terms. And now, with Hope at the top of Forrester and Thomas returning during a power shift, the stage was set for drama.

Instead, the show gave us crickets.

Hope’s world has changed dramatically: she’s dating Carter, she’s taken over the company, and she’s locked Ridge out of the building. And yet the man who once made her his entire world returns and doesn’t even say hello?

Is B&B Throwing Thomas Away?

Fans are asking: what is The Bold and the Beautiful even doing with Thomas anymore? Was his return just a filler arc while Ridge and Brooke’s reunion got sorted? Was it contractual? Fan service? A test balloon?

Whatever the reason, the execution felt lazy. Worse, it felt disrespectful — to the actor, to the characters, and to the audience.

Thomas Forrester is not just a plot device. He’s the father of Douglas, the former linchpin in the Hope-Liam-Thomas triangle, and a legacy character with a deep, troubled past. And yet in 2025, he’s been reduced to a glorified cameo who pops in to talk about his dad’s feelings, then vanishes again without explanation.

A Wasted Opportunity — or the Calm Before the Storm?

It’s possible that B&B is saving Thomas for a future twist. Maybe a 2026 redemption arc, a surprise love triangle, or even a Douglas custody battle. But the way his return was handled suggests otherwise.

If the writers had a plan, wouldn’t we have seen at least one meaningful scene? A spark with Hope? A goodbye to Douglas? A confrontation with Carter?

Instead, we got silence — and then another plane ticket back to Paris.

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Do you think B&B is setting Thomas up for a long-term arc… or has the show given up on him completely?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments or email us directly. The Forrester legacy deserves better — and so do we.