For decades, The Bold and the Beautiful has thrived on rivalry. Few feuds have been as central to the show as the one between Hope Logan (Annika Noelle) and Steffy Forrester (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood), two women forever linked by love triangles, family clashes, and the tug-of-war over Liam Spencer (Scott Clifton). But Annika Noelle isn’t shy about saying she hopes the show doesn’t always fall back on the same old formula. In her eyes, there’s room for storylines that don’t reduce Hope and Steffy to catfighting caricatures.

Currently, Steffy has been off the canvas, written into Paris while Wood took a hiatus to welcome her fifth child. With Wood now back on set and taping new episodes, Steffy’s return to Los Angeles is set for this fall — and fans are bracing themselves for fireworks. The question isn’t just whether Hope and Steffy will clash, but how much the writers will lean into the familiar beats of their rivalry.

The Bold and the Beautiful Spoilers: Annika Noelle Reveals What She Wants for Hope and Steffy Next

The Hope–Steffy conflict has deep roots. For years, the women have been positioned as opposites — Hope, the daughter of Brooke Logan (Katherine Kelly Lang), often painted as the moral center; and Steffy, Ridge Forrester’s (Thorsten Kaye) daughter, frequently portrayed as bold, calculating, and unafraid to break rules. Their lives have collided most dramatically through Liam Spencer, the man both women have married, divorced, and reconciled with more times than fans can count. The “who will Liam choose” triangle has been one of B&B’s most defining storylines, though many viewers have admitted it feels recycled after so many years.

The women did manage to find common ground recently — at least for a moment. When Liam faced a potential cancer diagnosis, Hope and Steffy put aside their bitterness to rally around him. But in true soap fashion, the scare turned out to be a misdirection, and their fragile truce dissolved almost as quickly as it was formed. Add in the fact that Steffy’s mother, Taylor Hayes (Krista Allen), was once again passed over by Ridge in favor of Brooke, and the stage is set for tensions to flare all over again.

Noelle has voiced a desire to see Hope step into storylines that aren’t defined solely by her rivalry with Steffy. In interviews, she’s hinted that the endless cycle of catty exchanges and triangle drama may not always serve either character. For her, Hope is a woman with complexities, vulnerabilities, and ambitions that deserve to shine outside of whether she’s battling Steffy for a man. It’s a refreshing perspective that challenges B&B to evolve, even as the show relies heavily on tried-and-true tropes.

Still, The Bold and the Beautiful is built on conflict, and fans know better than to expect smooth sailing. Steffy’s return this fall will almost certainly stir the pot, and whether it’s through business clashes at Forrester Creations or old wounds reopened over Liam, the drama is coming. The question is whether the writers will give the characters a new direction or recycle the same rivalry beats that have dominated for years.

One thing’s for sure: Hope and Steffy will always be tethered together, both by history and by the Logan–Forrester family wars that date back generations. But if Annika Noelle gets her wish, the next chapter won’t just be about claws and catfights. It could be about two women finally stepping into stories that allow them to grow, evolve, and maybe even redefine what it means to be rivals in the world of daytime drama.