The Bachelor franchise has had a rough 18 months. Allegations of a toxic workplace and the departure of its two top showrunners emerged before ABC was forced to shelve an entire season of The Bachelorette as a result of domestic assault allegations against its star, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ Taylor Frankie Paul.
But Disney’s reality chief Rob Mills is confident that the franchise can rise again.
“The Bachelor is almost a perfect format and it is really powerful. It’s over two decades old, and it’s seen really good days and really bad days. But it’s always had a lot of resilience, especially when the people making it really, really care about it, because that fan base also really cares about it,” he told Deadline. “However The Bachelor comes back next year, it will be done with a lot of thoughtfulness and care. I do think better days are ahead for the franchise.”
ABC already renewed The Bachelor for Season 30 in June 2025 with Bachelor in Paradise’s Scott Teti set as showrunner. It is now set to air in 2027.
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However, in the wake of the Paul furor, Mills was forced to take a broader look at the franchise. He told Deadline that it was “very important to us” but admitted it was going through “growing pains.”
Mills added that he was “very hopeful” for the next cycle of The Bachelor. He would like the dating format to be in the same conversation as Dancing With the Stars and American Idol, which have both enjoyed ratings renaissances in middle age.
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“This is a very different type of thing than just waning ratings or being in a creative rut. These shows all have ups and downs,” he said. “Dancing had a great year but a few years ago we were worried about just keeping the show on the air. I do think we’re going to take that care [with The Bachelor] but I’m very hopeful for the next cycle.”
Whether Season 22 of The Bachelorette, starring Paul, will ever air is a different question. Mills said he doesn’t know whether it will ever air on ABC or stream on Hulu and is taking everything “day by day.”
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The fact that the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office recently declined to file charges against Paul after reviewing evidence submitted to the Draper and West Jordan police departments, seemed to open the door slightly to the season seeing the light of day at some point.
Whether Disney wants to drag up the controversy again is a different question.
“The day all of that stuff happened, really our first sort of concern was really for Taylor and the family and everyone involved in that, it was really more on a human level. Now, we’re sort of taking it a day at a time. I think her season is a wonderful season, by Bachelor standards. If it gets seen, I’m sure people will absolutely enjoy it,” he said.
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The Bachelor and its spinoffs including The Bachelorette are produced by Warner Horizon. There were some suggestions when the scandal broke that the soon-to-be Paramount-owned studio could eventually license the season elsewhere.
But Mills said he’s had no conversations with Warner Bros. Television about that.
“I think if there’s something that absolutely says very clearly, one way or the other, that points in that direction, you’ll know,” he said. “But right now, there’s really just nothing to say other than, it is a great season and I hope that, at some point, Bachelor Nation gets to see it.”
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