Is ‘The Bachelorette’ Canceled? What’s Next For ‘The Bachelor’ Franchise?

Has The Bachelorette given out its final rose?

With news that The Bachelorette will not be airing this summer, fans are left to wonder what lies ahead for The Bachelor franchise.

Season 21 of The Bachelorette reached a rocky conclusion at the After the Final Rose ceremony in September 2024, when lead Jenn Tran revealed that winner Devin Strader had broken off their engagement. Strader took to Instagram with a 13-minute-long video in which he aimed to “give a little more context to the situation,” which featured screenshots of his and Tran’s text messages, to some pretty outraged reactions from fans. He has since deleted the post.

Season 29 of the flagship series is currently airing, starring Grant Ellis — who competed on Tran’s Bachelorette season — on his journey to find a wife. Prior to the season premiere, Ellis told DECIDER that he is “really happy” with how things played out.

“I couldn’t imagine it being any other way now that I’m going through this process and learning about myself,” he shared. “Everything that’s been unfolding in my life, and the lessons that I’ve learned — I’m really grateful.”

But this winter, fans have been left wondering what’s in store for the next iteration of The Bachelorette. Why was The Bachelorette canceled? When will it return? Here’s what we know right now.

Jenn Tran and Jesse Palmer on 'The Bachelorette' — Photo: DISNEY/John Fleenor

Was The Bachelorette canceled?

Deadline reported last Friday (Feb. 7) that the network is “pausing” The Bachelorette ahead of what would be its 22nd season. As noted by the outlet, Seasons 19-21 have each hit ABC in July. While a specific reason was not cited for its hiatus, Deadline noted that Bachelor in Paradise Season 10 will air this summer. The Bachelor in Paradise Season 9 finale aired back in December 2023.

Per Just Jared, Bachelorette alums Rachel Recchia and Trista Sutter appeared on The Ben And Ashley I Almost Famous podcast on Feb. 10, where Recchia had said she “heard they picked a lead” already before they announced the show’s pause. Podcast co-host Ashley Iaconetti said her fellow co-host Ben Higgins speculated that ABC wants to dedicate “the normal Bachelorette time slot” to The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives because the show is “doing so well” and reaches “the same demographic.” However, ABC has not confirmed anything about its summer schedule just yet, so Higgins suggestion is merely that.

The Mormon reality series, which premiered on Hulu, made its network debut in January on ABC. DECIDER reached out to ABC for more information.

Is The Bachelorette over?

Fortunately, it sounds like The Bachelorette will eventually return. According to Cosmopolitan, franchise host Jesse Palmer confirmed the “good news” on Tuesday’s (Feb. 11) episode of the Playing the Field that he “know[s] it’s not going away.”

“I know it’s definitely coming back,” he said. “Without being able to get into too much of the creative decisions on it, I know that when it does, I just think it’s going to be absolutely tremendous.” Stay tuned, Bachelor Nation!