CBS
Buss Schedule: Carter (Lawrence Saint-Victor) and Hope (Annika Noelle) shared their first kiss on B&B.
It’s been a streak of bad luck of late in the personal lives of Bold and Beautiful‘s Carter Walton and Hope Logan. Most recently, he was friend-zoned by paramour Katie, Hope’s aunt, while Hope was dumped by Thomas and planted an ill-advised drunken kiss on the man she’d been fantasizing about, Finn, who just so happens to be very unavailable (he’s married to Steffy). But on the Monday, October 7 episode, Carter and Hope shared a steamy lip lock. Soap Opera Digest chatted with Hope’s portrayer, Annika Noelle, about whether her character’s romantic fortunes are about to change for the better.
Soap Opera Digest: What was your reaction when you found out you’d be working more closely with Carter’s portrayer, Lawrence Saint-Victor?
Annika Noelle: I was just excited that we finally get a chance to kind of play in the sandbox together, as it were. I adore Lawrence and I’m really excited to get to work with him in a more layered setting than just, you know, filing divorce papers. I’m excited to see him shine in this story and I just want to be the best supporting actor I can be to him because he really deserves to be front and center. And I’m really excited to see where the storyline goes and I’m excited for the fans to see how this all unveils. I’ve sen a lot of theories and so I’m excited to see the fan reaction to it all.
Digest: How would you describe how Hope was viewing Carter prior to their kiss?
Noelle: I would say it’s kind of unassuming, like she kind of doesn’t realize what’s been right in front of her all along until Carter kind of makes his intentions known. And honestly, it takes her by surprise. She never, or we never, really picked up on that vibe before. They just both weren’t available at the same time. [The shift in their dynamic also happens] because Carter is starting to pick up on some of the workplace dynamics and it’s rubbing him the wrong way and, and they kind of just come in to each other’s aid at a time when they both are needing a little extra support.
Digest: How would you describe Hope’s reaction to their first kiss?
Noelle: Pleasantly surprised. Again, it’s just one of those things where it goes from friendship to flirtation to, “Oh, I think there might be something there, there might be a little spark.” So, yeah, Hope is pleasantly surprised and what was once a friendship has now become a flirtation that has now led to this kiss and she’s certainly intrigued about where it may go. I think that hopefully, we’re going to see Hope get her sea legs again. I think this could really be a multilayered story, too, because there are other aspects involved, you know? It’s the family dynamics, it’s the business dynamics, it’s their past relationships, also, and kind of the baggage of that that is coning into play. And it’s hopefully going to just continue to build into something that is hopefully a strong connection between the two of them. So it has been really fun to get to play with the impact of all of those things and kind of find our own stride in it.
Digest: When you’ve worked with Lawrence before, the Hope/Carter interactions have been platonic. From an acting perspective, how did you and Lawrence approach bringing in this new flirtatious dynamic?
Noelle: I think the thing that we’re really striving for is finding something that is unique to Hope and Carter, something that isn’t something that has been found with our prior love interests. We want to find a different dynamic, a different stride, a different kind of rhythm that is Hope and Carter and that that hasn’t necessarily been seen with our characters on the soap before. So that’s something that we’ve been talking about and playing with is that we’re hoping to find that difference in what is happening between Hope and Carter that they haven’t had with anyone else on the show.
Digest: As she starts to explore the potential for something between her and Carter, do you feel that there are any ongoing flickers of her attraction to Finn, or has she put that to rest?
Noelle: I hope that is laid dead and buried. I think it was just very misguided. You know, she was really lost after Thomas left and I think she was just searching for anything to cling on to, to keep her head above water … and unfortunately, it happened to be a drunken kiss with Steffy’s husband! It was very inappropriate and something that was pretty out of character for her. I think she was just idealizing someone because she so desperately wanted to believe that there would be someone else out there for her. She just was completely idealizing the wrong man. I’m hoping that especially after everything she went through with Liam, she remembers the lesson that she learned with is, “I don’t want to have to constantly have that battle with another woman over a man.” She deserves someone who sees her worth and who loves her and is loyal to her. Every woman does. I;’m hoping that she might fully get that lesson drilled into her head after her mistake with Finn.
Digest: What do you think it is about Carter that could make him the right guy, the right partner, for the Hope she is today?
Noelle: I think it’s their belief in one another and their genuine aspirations to be better people and encouraging each other to grow. I feel like they bring out the best in one another, whereas Hope’s other pairings didn’t always brought out the best in her. Some of those other relationships brought out her jealousy and insecurity and all sorts of things like that. I think the beautiful thing about Hope and Carter’s relationship is that they really are advocating for one another and hopefully just encouraging each other to grow into and evolve into being better people than maybe they were in the past. So I’m excited to see that. I also feel that Carter’s strength is really inspirational to Hope and hopefully, it will help her find her own again.
