Why Fans Are Worried Steffy Might Leave The Bold And The Beautiful

The following article contains spoilers for recent episodes of "The Bold and The Beautiful." 

The dangerous pas de deux between Steffy Forrester (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) and her mother-in-law, notorious soap villainess Sheila Carter (Kimberlin Brown) finally came to a head this past week on the CBS sudser "The Bold and the Beautiful." Steffy had suspected that something sinister is up with Sheila, and now she knows the truth — Sheila switched the label on a bottle of non-alcoholic champagne delivered to Brooke Logan's (Katherine Kelly Lang) house on New Year's Eve, thus causing Brooke to fall off the wagon and kiss her old lover, Deacon Sharp (Sean Kanan). Brooke then broke up with Steffy's father, Ridge Forrester (Thorsten Kaye). Sheila's motivation is simple: getting Brooke out of the way would give Sheila an open avenue to spend time with her son Finn (Tanner Novlan) and her grandson, Hayes, as Brooke has been adamant that Sheila not spend time with Finn or Hayes. Deacon, who is in reluctant league with Sheila, would get another chance to date Brooke.

Steffy and Sheila finally met head to head over the situation, and when Sheila menaces Steffy with a gun in a dark alleyway during their war of words, Finn leaps between Steffy and Sheila's bullet, taking the shot for her. But a distraught Steffy isn't out of the line of fire, and is shot by Sheila while trying to call 9-1-1. As of press time, Finn and Steffy have been taken to the hospital thanks to a 9-1-1 call from Sharpe, with Finn being pronounced dead later in Tuesday's episode. Sheila, meanwhile, has stolen their property to stage a robbery.

The hubbub definitely has fans wondering if MacInnes Wood is going to leave "Bold." Here's what we know about her possible departure.

At the moment, Jacqueline MacInnes Wood's status with the soap is up in the air. Per People Magazine, the actress is pregnant with her third child at press time, and she's due to deliver some time in the late spring or early summer of 2022. It's possible that she may be headed for maternity leave soon, and it's fairly likely that the show needed to get Wood off the air for a little while to explain away her absence. Having Sheila shoot her thus makes perfect sense; they could even put the character into a coma and keep Steffy bedbound for the remainder of Wood's pregnancy if need be.

In any event, there isn't any new activity on Wood's IMDb page except for several additional episodes of "Bold." There's also no hint that the actress is interested in permanently vacating her role as Steffy. Per The Sun, Wood has not commented on their contact status to the media.

This wouldn't be the first time that Wood has temporarily vacated her role as Steffy. She left the show from 2013 to 2015, and during her absence she headed the E! reality show "Party On" and took guest starring roles on the dramady "Castle," FX's "Anger Management,"  and "South Beach."