Kiara Barnes exit B&B
Credit: Jill Johnson/JPI

The Bold and the Beautiful’s Kiara Barnes has been cast a series regular in primetime. The actress and singer, who has been playing the role of troubled model Zoe Buckingham since 2018, has landed a lead role on Fantasy Island, Fox’s reboot of the classic Ricardo Montalban series that ran from the late 1970s until 1984.

Barnes has been tapped to play Ruby Okoro, one of the three main characters who live and work on Fantasy Island, and welcome the guests who come and go. Ruby, who arrives on the island suffering from a terminal illness but is given a new lease on life, is described as a “young woman with an old soul,” per our sister publication, Deadline.

So what does this mean for Bold & Beautiful’s Zoe Buckingham? While there’s no word yet on whether or not the role will be recast, Kiara is definitely leaving the CBS sudser. She is set to finish her last year playing the troubled model and will be wrapping up production on the soap very soon, though she’ll continue to be seen until the first week of July.

Headwriter and executive producer, Bradley Bell, said of Barnes, “It’s been a pleasure having Kiara in the role of Zoe Buckingham on The Bold and the Beautiful. I wish her all the best in her future endeavors.”

Zoe was introduced as a rather unhinged British character who was stalking her ex-boyfriend, Xander Avant, but along the way she lost her accent and became more of a mainstream character… though no less caught up in drama. After keeping the terrible secret that Baby Beth was alive in order to protect her father, Zoe was redeemed and suffered a heartbreak of her own courtesy of Thomas Forrester.

Currently, Zoe is consumed with trying to win back the affections of her ex-fiance, Carter Walton, so we have to wonder now if she will be unsuccessful… or if any progress she makes will once again be derailed as it was when they first became engaged and she ruined things by flirting with Zende Forrester.

Whatever happens with Zoe, we here at Soaps.com wish Kiara all the best in her new primetime role! See the striking new look she adopted on her way to her next gig — she cut her hair super short! — and check out a rundown of all of Bold & Beautiful‘s comings and goings, including hers, in the casting photo gallery.

– Candace Young