Kimberlin Brown believes fan outcry brought her back to Bold and the Beautiful

Sheila Carter is back on The Bold and the Beautiful! Monday, Apr. 29's episode saw her love Deacon and her son, Finn, searching an abandoned building for her. Finn found her unconscious under a blanket on a dirty mattress surrounded by evidence she'd at least had some food and water while missing for weeks. Deacon verified that it was really her by checking the toes on one of her feet. There were only nine so that's definitely the infamous woman herself.

Since Kimberlin Brown's character was "killed" off, fans of the soap have been questioning whether Sheila would stay dead. Not only is she a master manipulator but she's cheated death multiple times. However, this go around Brown had given an exit interview. While it didn't seem certain to longtime viewers that Sheila was gone for good, the actress certainly thought that she'd wrapped the role.

In a sit down with Deadline, she'd shared that she'd brought property in Montana, where her son lives, as she wanted to be closer to her grandchild whose birth is expected in June. Her plans were set to close the house she rents while working in Los Angeles. In fact, Brown got the call offering her a return to The Bold and the Beautiful the week before she was set to move out!

So what changed? Why was Sheila written back into the soap? The actress doesn't have a firm answer but she thinks it comes down to the fans.

"The only thing I can think of is maybe it’s because of my fans, maybe everyone who was commenting, who made everything go viral. Brad does listen. He does pay attention, and in my opinion, I truly believe that my following and my fans and the people who have loved to hate Sheila all these years are responsible for me coming back."

In the soap world, at least from my experience with the CBS Daytime Soaps, fan outcry does move the needle. It can even determine how quickly an actor is brought back after being written out like when Courtney Hope left The Bold and the Beautiful the first time as Sally Spectra and returned within months. Then, when the road had ran out for Sally once again on the soap, her popularity and devoted fanbase likely paved the way for her character to make the jump to The Young and the Restless. A hop like that hadn't happened in quite some time. In fact, I believe Kimberlin Brown is the only other CBS soap actress whose character has a deep running history on both shows.

What this means for the daytime program going forward is that we're in for quite the dramarama as it's revealed that Sheila is not only alive but that she was also the victim of Sugar's vengeance. That's sure to cause problems with Steffy Forrester and Finn since the revelation that his birth mother didn't attack his wife is going to put him back on the path to wanting a relationship with her. Especially since he described her potentially being alive as another chance for him to get to know Sheila.

While it's unclear how long Brown will continue to play the 'love her or love to hate her' character, she did share in her interview that she's been asked to negotiate a new contract so we could be seeing her for some time. Personally, I couldn't be happier. The Bold and the Beautiful is never more exciting when Sheila Carter is around!