Will ‘The Bachelorette’ Return After Season 22 Cancellation? What We Know So Far
Just three days before Season 22 of The Bachelorette was set to premiere on ABC, the network announced that it would not be moving forward with airing Taylor Frankie Paul‘s season. Taylor’s casting as the 2026 lead was announced in September 2025, but recent controversy surrounding The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star has led ABC to pull the plug.
The Bachelorette aired one season a year from 2008 to 2024 (and two seasons in 2021). However, no new season of the dating show came out in 2025, and fans were looking forward to the latest installment, leaving many to wonder about the future of the show after this Season 22 scandal.
Scroll down for everything we know about the cancellation, what’s next for the series, and what this means for The Bachelorette Season 23.
Will The Bachelorette return for Season 23?
So far, ABC has not revealed plans for the future of the franchise. It is unclear whether they will choose a new lead to helm another season of The Bachelorette at this time.
In fact, none of ABC’s Bachelor Nation programming slate for the remainder of 2026 has been confirmed yet. Since the addition of The Golden Bachelor franchise in 2023, scheduling has been shaken up a bit within Bachelor Nation.
In 2023, The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, Bachelor in Paradise, and Season 1 of The Golden Bachelor all aired, with the latter two shows airing on separate days in the fall. The following year, Bachelor in Paradise was cut from programming, and in 2025, it was The Bachelorette that got axed from the lineup. The Golden Bachelorette last aired in 2024.
Since The Bachelor didn’t have its usual January premiere in 2026, all signs pointed to that show being the next to take a break, but with The Bachelorette now being cut, the future of all these programs remains to be seen.
Who is the lead for The Bachelorette Season 23?
Since there is no official Season 23 announcement yet, we don’t know who the lead will be. Choosing Taylor as the lead for Season 22 was a bit unprecedented, as she did not previously appear on The Bachelor, like all of the past leads in The Bachelorette history.
ABC could go back to its roots and try to find a show alum who’s still looking for love, or dip outside the Bachelor Nation dating pool again like they did with Taylor.
When does The Bachelorette Season 23 premiere?
It will likely be a while before we get a premiere date or news about The Bachelorette Season 23 as the network deals with the fallout of Taylor’s controversy.
Why was The Bachelorette Season 22 canceled?
The Bachelorette Season 22 was canceled after TMZ released a video from 2023 that showed Taylor throwing chairs at ex-boyfriend Dakota Mortensen while one of the MomTok star’s children was also in the room.
“In light of the newly released video just surfaced today, we have made the decision to not move forward with the new season of The Bachelorette at this time, and our focus is on supporting the family,” a Disney Entertainment Television spokesperson said in a statement.
Taylor was arrested for aggravated assault after the incident in 2023, but the video came to light amid new allegations against her. The Draper City Police Department confirmed to People that Taylor and Dakota are currently involved in an open “domestic assault investigation,” with allegations coming from “both directions.”
Dakota accused Taylor of being physically abusive to their son, which Taylor has denied. During an alleged incident that took place in February, Taylor claimed that Dakota “got physical with her,” while he alleged that she was “the one who got physical,” leading him to call the police, per TMZ.
Production on The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives was paused amid the new allegations.
