Heather Tom on Writing Bold and Beautiful, Brooke and Ridge Reunion

Katie Logan pulled off a hat trick on the Thursday, March 27, episode of The Bold and the Beautiful — and now she’s taking Us inside the soap opera’s writers room.

Heather Tom, who has portrayed the youngest Logan sister on the CBS soap since 2007, is now the first female to direct, write and star in an episode of daytime TV. The half-hour was extra special because it only included the female team on B&B, both in front of and behind the cameras.

“It was important to me. It was also very important to [head writer] Brad [Bell] that we’re doing something for Women’s History Month. We’re making history that this has never been done in daytime and really only a handful of times across any television platform for a woman to do all three in one episode. He wanted to make sure that we were really highlighting women, honoring women and celebrating women,” Tom told Us. “Brad is very conscientious about promoting from within and making sure that everyone’s well represented and has the opportunity to hone your talents and grow and explore other things, which is exactly what he’s done for me. It was a labor of love and all came together.”

Since the beginning, The Bold and the Beautiful has followed the Forrester family and the Logan family, who have been at odds across several generations.

“It’s Romeo and Juliet, right? House divided. The characters have such histories,” Tom said of the dueling families. “You have decades and decades and decades of history to be played and that’s one of the most unique things about our genre.”

Brooke (who has been portrayed by Katherine Kelly Lang since the 1987 premiere) and Ridge (played by Thorsten Kaye since 2013) are at the center of the drama. And while Ridge has been back with Taylor (currently played by Rebecca Budig) as of late, fans know to never count out Brooke.

“We’re definitely dealing with the fallout of the takeover of Forrester creators. That has blown up in Hope’s face. [Ridge finding out] Brooke was really working to get the company back for him — that might make him question his relationship with Taylor,” Tom teased. “Although he’s still in love with her. We’re going to see a lot more push and pull between those three.”

While Tom named Steffy (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood), Luna (Lisa Yamada) and Sheila (Kimberlin Brown) as her favorite female characters to write for — and Bill Spencer (Don Diamont) as her favorite male character (more on Bill in a minute!) — she noted that the key to writing for a soap isn’t actually coming up with the big plot twists.

“Of course it’s fun to write the big dramatic twists, but we can’t have one of those every day. You have to have the fallout from that too,” she explained. “What I find interesting is how people react to the fallout — how it lives inside of them, what their varied reactions could be. We have to keep the scoring story going day after day after day after day. If we are going to have repetition, then how are we making that repetition different? How are we personalizing it? With the daytime genre, the stakes are always life and death. Nothing’s ever casual. I enjoy directing that, I enjoy acting, and I enjoy writing it.”

One of the bigger twists in recent B&B history is Finn (Tanner Novlan) finding out that his cousin Luna is his daughter. The reveal confirmed that Finn had slept with his Aunt Poppy (Romy Park) — but don’t worry, Finn was adopted so it’s not a White Lotus situation.

“I always say, if it’s not proven, like, documented, blood-related relatives, anyone’s fair game,” Tom said.

Katie, for her part, has had her own fair share of love interests over the years, most notably with Bill.

“Is it ever over? Who knows,” Tom told Us of Katie and Bill. “They have so much history. They both changed each other and the way they see their world. She’ll never be able to completely walk away from Bill, but I don’t think that she’s not open to someone else. I don’t think she’s pining.”

She also had a fling with Carter (Lawrence Saint-Victor), which Us felt fizzled too soon.

“I know, I was enjoying it,” Tom said. “They wanted to go in a different direction, but you never know. It’s always there.”

While she’s been in the writer’s room since September 2024, Tom told Us that she doesn’t pitch story lines for Katie.

“We are, you know, part of the machine. And it’s Brad’s story. It’s his vision. We’re there to facilitate that,” she explained. “My goal is to write from a very personal place and from the characters personal point of view. I don’t ever want the actors to feel like the dialogue is interchangeable, but I think that I’m uniquely qualified to do this in that I’ve been doing this for 35 years. I know the language. I understand it. I also know these actors and the characters really well, and I feel like I can write in their voice. I’m having a great time writing people’s voices. I get that I write for myself sometimes, but I actually kind of enjoy writing for other people almost more than I enjoy writing for Katie.”

The Bold and the Beautiful airs weekdays on CBS at 1:30 p.m. EST.