Three months after ABC pulled Taylor Frankie Paul‘s season of “The Bachelorette” just days before its scheduled premiere, there is new reason to believe the season will actually air. TMZ reported yesterday that production sources say the current discussion behind the scenes is for the season to premiere in mid-July — though final plans are not yet locked.
What TMZ Is Reporting
Production sources tell TMZ the current discussion behind the scenes is for the season to premiere in mid-July, though final plans are not yet confirmed. Sources also say that when ABC pulled the season from its schedule, editors working on the series never stopped cutting the episodes — a sign the network was keeping the door open for a future premiere.
Network execs have also noticed Taylor’s social media posts about personal growth and healing since the season was pulled, and her attempts to repair her image have been a factor in ongoing discussions.
ABC typically reserves late July for the premiere of “Bachelor in Paradise.” However, the network decided to skip the show for the 2026 summer schedule entirely and save it for 2027 — which opens a scheduling window that didn’t previously exist.
How We Got Here
EGO has been following this story closely since the beginning. Taylor Frankie Paul was announced as the Season 22 lead of “The Bachelorette” on September 10, 2025 — cast outside the franchise entirely, the first lead with an established reality TV career. The season was set to premiere March 22, 2026.
Three days before the premiere, TMZ published a 2023 video showing Taylor in a physical altercation with her then-boyfriend Dakota Mortensen. ABC pulled the season the same day, issuing a statement that it was not moving forward at that time and that its focus was on supporting the family.
What followed was three months of legal proceedings, conflicting reports, and a network that kept saying it was taking things day by day. In May, Reality Steve reported a summer air date was coming. Days later, TMZ reported the season was not in ABC’s fall lineup — a development that seemed to contradict the summer timeline entirely and raised questions about whether it would air at all.
Now, with charges dropped, mutual restraining orders in place, and a Utah judge recently lifting the mandatory supervision that was previously in place for Taylor’s visitations with her son Ever, the picture has shifted enough that a mid-July premiere is back in play.
What the Season Holds
Per Reality Steve’s March spoilers, Taylor’s final four were Shane Parton, Lew Evans, Doug Mason, and Casey Hux. Fantasy suites filmed in Utah. The finale traveled to St. Lucia, where Taylor and Doug Mason got engaged. About a month later, Doug flew to Utah, and Taylor ended the engagement.
Reality Steve also reported the two were spotted together in Sherman Oaks, California in March — a duck emoji exchange between them on Instagram fueled further speculation — though a Deuxmoi tip later suggested the man Taylor said gave her butterflies around that same time was actually Ben Lambert, a country musician who appeared on “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” Season 4 and who reconnected with her the day after the premiere that never aired.
Whether viewers will get any clarity on where Taylor’s heart actually landed — with Doug, with Ben, or somewhere else entirely — is one of the reasons a mid-July premiere would be genuinely compelling television.
Nothing is confirmed until ABC makes it official. But the roses are looking increasingly likely to be handed out this summer.
The Bachelorette airs on ABC. Seasons 1 through 21 are streaming on Hulu
Related articles:
- Will Taylor Frankie Paul’s ‘Bachelorette’ Season Air? Reports Say Yes
- ABC’s Fall Lineup Does Not Include Taylor Frankie Paul’s ‘Bachelorette’ Season — Here’s Where Things Stand
- Taylor Frankie Paul’s Love Life After ‘The Bachelorette’ Cancellation: Doug, Ben, and a Very Complicated Picture
- Taylor Frankie Paul Reveals PTSD Diagnosis as She and Dakota Mortensen Both Speak Out
- Taylor Frankie Paul Won’t Face Domestic Violence Charges — But the Drama With Dakota Mortensen Is Far From Over
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