The Bold And The Beautiful's Tanner Novlan Gives The Inside Scoop On Finn's Stunning Resurrection
"The Bold and the Beautiful" fans were both stunned and thrilled when Li Finnegan (Naomi Matsuda) approached a bed in a dark hotel room as the end of the May 23, 2022, episode, revealing her son, John "Finn" Finnegan was lying there comatose hooked up to hospital machines his mother somehow got a hold of (via Soap Hub). That meant when Finn's birth mother, Sheila Carter (Kimberlin Brown), shot him during her reign of terror when she was aiming for his wife, Steffy Forrester (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood), according to Soaps.com, he didn't die. Somehow Li managed to save her son and keep him hidden for nearly two months as Steffy recovered from her own gunshot wound and grieved.
The Twitterverse has suspected Finn might be alive from the start, but Tanner Novlan, who played Finn, even gave an exit interview to Soap Opera Digest and seemed to confirm his departure. "Brad [Bell, executive producer/head writer] gave me a call personally and told me where the character was headed and yeah, I was really surprised," Novlan told Soap Opera Digest (via Soap Opera Network). "But, that's the nature of soap opera. Anything can happen at any time, and that's ultimately what keeps people engaged with the show."
Of course, knowing now that Finn is alive, it seems clear to many that Novlan never specifically said that Finn is dead in the interview.
Tanner Novlan was in on the secret
Soon after the on-air reveal that Finn is alive and being cared for by his mother, Li Finnegan, Tanner Novlan appeared on CBS' "The Talk." That's when he revealed that he knew all along what would happen because when Brad Bell told him about what the plans were for his character, he told him everything, including that he wouldn't be losing his job.
"Here's the thing, I kinda knew," Novlan said (via Twitter). "Don't be mad at me, but I was blown away at the fan's reaction! I couldn't believe the support. But I'm contractually obligated not to tell you guys, and I felt awful about it!"
In fact, Novlan admitted that he kept the news of his return from his own mother, that's how guarded he was with "B&B's" big secret. "She was devastated when she found out I was getting killed off," he confessed. "The whole time I wanted to say, 'Mom, it's ok. Stick with it.'"
Novlan gave a shoutout to #SINNATION, a Twitter hashtag full of fans who couldn't get enough of Finn and Steffy together. They never gave up hope that Finn was alive. As one fan put it, "If everyone paid attention to the Dialogue and actions in the alley and hospital AFTER the shooting, they would know why this was NEVER a re-write and why #SinnNation stuck together in our stance. Finn was NEVER dead at all."