After greater than twenty years, may The Bachelor be canceled? Following two less-than-successful seasons, it doesn’t look too good for Bachelor Nation’s future on ABC, however whether or not the community has formally pulled the plug on The Bachelor is but to be decided.
Followers began to take a position that The Bachelor had been canceled after ABC introduced the unscripted sequence it had renewed for the 2025 to 2026 tv season, and The Bachelor as not on that listing. As an alternative, the 5 exhibits had been American Idol, Shark Tank, Superstar Wheel of Fortune, Superstar Jeopardy! and America’s Funniest House Movies.
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The hypothesis got here after information broke in February 2025 that The Bachelorette—The Bachelor’s long-running spinoff that premiered in 2003—had been canceled and wouldn’t be airing in 2025. The announcement got here as The Bachelorette, which usually begins manufacturing in March with the previous three seasons premiering in July, was anticipated to start filming.
So is The Bachelor canceled too? Whereas ABC hasn’t formally introduced whether or not the sequence has been renewed, on the time of writing, it’s probably that it’ll return. Each The Golden Bachelor Season 2 and Bachelor in Paradise Season 10—two spinoffs of The Bachelor—are set to premiere within the fall, which is a constructive signal that ABC continues to be investing within the franchise.
Deadline additionally reported in February 2025 that, whereas The Bachelorette gained’t air in its typical time slot in 2025, the sequence isn’t useless for good and ABC hasn’t dominated out a return sooner or later. Which means that ABC might also not be canceling The Bachelor, however reorganizing its schedule to air the present later in 2026 (and even 2027) as a substitute of its typical premiere date in January. Nonetheless, the unsure future round The Bachelor and The Bachelorette does put strain on The Golden Bachelor and Bachelor in Paradise. If these exhibits are additionally unsuccessful, there might be powerful choices forward.
Following hypothesis that The Bachelor had been canceled, Jenn Tran, the lead of The Bachelorette Season 21, addressed claims that she and Season 29 Bachelor Grant Ellis had been chargeable for the tip of the franchise.
“No, no, no, you guys are taking a look at this all flawed,” Jenn stated in a TikTok video in response to a fan who claimed the franchise was in “shambles” due to her and Grant. “I used to be truly such a tremendous Bachelorette and my relationship led to such success that they’ll merely by no means discover anybody to interchange me as a result of my season will probably be eternally ingrained in your little brains and also you’re by no means going to get out of your heads. Thanks.”
As for why The Bachelorette was placed on pause, Bachelor Nation alums Ashley Iaconetti and Ben Higgins claimed on their podcast,” Virtually Well-known,” in March 2025 that manufacturing sources advised them that 75 % of the filming dates for The Bachelorette Season 22 — together with in European areas like Greece and Portugal — had been set earlier than ABC determined to cancel the present for 2025. The hosts additionally alleged that an iHeartRadio podcast-themed date was within the works with Ben and Ashley I., in addition to different iHeartRadio podcast hosts resembling Jana Kramer, Jennie Garth, Kevin McHale, and Jenna Ushkowitz set to participate. The date was allegedly a competition-themed date with the winner receiving an invitation to the iHeartRadio Music Awards.
As a result of The Bachelorette reportedly deliberate to movie in Europe as a substitute of staying in Los Angeles to avoid wasting prices — as ABC did with The Golden Bachelor and The Golden Bachelorette — Ben defined that he didn’t consider The Bachelorette was canceled in 2025 on account of cash. As an alternative, Ben and Ashley I. alleged that the principle cause they heard The Bachelorette was canceled for 2025 was as a result of ABC couldn’t discover as robust of a lead as Maria Georgas, the fourth-place finalist from The Bachelor Season 28 with Joey Graziadei, who allegedly was set to turn out to be the Season 22 Bachelorette till negotiations fell by means of.
“It seems like from our supply that Maria was the frontrunner,” Ben stated. “The powers that be actually wished to be the lead of this season. It actually sounds to me like they couldn’t make it work with Maria for no matter cause that was, and due to that, they needed to pull the plug on the present as a result of anyone who had quite a lot of affect on the present was pretty caught on that storyline saying, ‘If we don’t do Maria, it’s not value doing.’”
Ashley I added, “We’re fairly sure Maria was a frontrunner to be the Bachelorette as she was a frontrunner to be the Bachelorette throughout Jenn’s season. The supply says that they don’t know precisely what occurred, however they couldn’t make Maria occur and that’s why the present didn’t get picked up as a result of I’m assuming they didn’t have a robust sufficient result in get sufficient rankings.”
Ben additionally defined that the rankings and detrimental response to the forged for The Bachelorette Season 21 with Jenn Tran additionally probably performed an element in ABC’s resolution to not renew The Bachelorette for 2025. “This looks like the explanation this season isn’t taking place. The rankings haven’t been adequate. Regardless that I believe there have been nice seasons, however I’m going again to I believe the present took a large hit with the boys that had been forged for Jenn’s season,” he stated. “Jenn did a fantastic job. I believe we’ve seen Jenn thrive after her function because the Bachelorette, however I believe the boys on her season actually damage the present. And since the present did the ‘don’t ask, don’t inform’ technique, I believe the present is in a extremely powerful place.”
Ben and Ashley I. additionally claimed that a part of the explanation ABC canceled The Bachelorette was as a result of the community believed that it may fill The Bachelorette’s typical time slot with Hulu’s The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, which has the same demographic and has already completed filming.