Get excited, fans of problematic reality TV!
There’s reason to believe that Taylor Frankie Paul’s season of The Bachelorette might eventually see the light of day.
In a new interview, Rob Mills, Disney’s executive vice president of unscripted TV, revealed that ABC is still open to the possibility of eventually airing Taylor’s episodes.
“Everything with that is one day at a time. There’s really nothing new to report right now,” Mills told Variety when asked about the possibility that the season — which has already been filmed in its entirety — might eventually air.
Recent court decisions may have influenced Disney’s decision-making process. We now know that Paul will not face any additional charges following an investigation into additional domestic violence claims.
Taylor pled guilty to assaulting then-boyfriend Dakota Mortensen in February of 2023. But it was only when ABC execs saw footage of the incident that they decided not to air her season.
Still, Mills stands by the decision to cast her as Bachelorette.
“I had met with Taylor. She had said, ‘Look, I’m raising three kids with different fathers; one, I have a phenomenal co-parenting relationship with. The other one is a challenge, but I’m really looking for a partner and somebody who can help me,’” he shared.
“Her motives were really very sincere,” he continued.
“Walking into that, that was a really exciting story to tell through the lens of The Bachelorette. Obviously, with everything that happened and everything everyone’s going through, that’s the hard part. Everything that Taylor’s had to go through has been really hard. The season itself is really, really fantastic. It was a great journey for her.”
Mills also confirmed that Paul’s other reality show, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, has resumed production.
“There’s not much to say, other than we are clear to go back into production,” he said.
“That does not mean we’re filming tomorrow. It just means production is resuming, and we’re trying to see what that looks like.”
Mills added that producers’ top priority is Taylor, and they’re working to ensure that “as a human being, on a personal level she’s being taken care of.”
“What shooting looks like will be decided later,” he continued.
“Everything is still kind of day to day — this was just an announcement that we are just going back into production. That’s a process. Because we’ve been down for so long, we have to figure out what this season is even going to look like. What are the storylines?”
Mills refuted rumors that Disney was holding off on making a production decision until they knew if Paul would be charged with felony assault.
“It was just simply making sure that we were really being careful and thoughtful and working with the entire cast, as well as producers, and making sure everybody felt this was the right decision all around,” he said.
There are rumors on social media that ABC has already set a premiere date for Taylor’s season of The Bachelorette, but those appear to be baseless.
We will have further updates on this developing story as new information becomes available.