‘The Bachelorette’: When Does Season 17 Premiere? Filming Starts Shortly
Matt James’ season of The Bachelor is coming to a close. And fans can’t wait to hear more about The Bachelorette. Fans and spoiler accounts leak new information day by day when it comes to the show, and everyone’s excited for the next lead announcement Additionally, a new filming location is on the horizon for season 17 — and there’s talk of when the season may air.
[SPOILER ALERT: Spoilers ahead for who the next Bachelorette is and details on season 17.]
Is ‘The Bachelorette’ canceled? Here’s why the show’s filming was postponed
A lot happened in Bachelor Nation during Matt’s season of The Bachelor. Rachael Kirkconnell caused controversy after past racist photos surfaced online, and Chris Harrison also caused major issues for himself and the franchise as a whole after an interview with Rachel Lindsay. During the interview, Harrison asked for grace regarding Rachael’s resurfaced photos, a comment that would later cause him to temporarily step down.
Since Harrison’s comments, many fans wondered if The Bachelorette would get canceled. It seems the show’s still on, and season 17 is well underway. According to Heavy, production postponed filming, though — but it wasn’t because of the host. A change in location occurred, pushing filming dates back.
“Not 100% confirmed yet, but I’m hearing the location is the Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort & Spa about 20 min outside of Albuquerque,” Reality Steve tweeted.
When will season 17 air?
According to Reality Steve, filming starts in the latter half of March 2021. So, has ABC announced a premiere date? Not quite yet — but given the timing of filming and what’s been said about the franchise before, we have some clues.
StyleCaster reports Harrison said The Bachelor and The Bachelorette should be back on its regular schedule after Matt’s season. “That will put us back on schedule and hopefully, knock on wood, next summer, things will open, Harrison said in October 2020. “We’ll have the vaccine and we can get back to our regular calendar.” If Harrison’s still correct, that means The Bachelorette will likely premiere in May 2021.
It seems Reality Steve suggested the show would be pushed back, though. And with the change in filming location, this now seems certain. We imagine season 17 will now premiere in June or July 2021, which could push Bachelor in Paradise further into the summer months.
Who is the next Bachelorette?
Fans of Matt’s Bachelor season want to know about the pick for the next lead. According to Screen Rant, Reality Steve announced the next lead will be Katie Thurston.
Katie called out the toxic environment in Matt’s season. While many of the other women in the house denied the toxicity, Katie brought her concerns to Matt, which then resulted in a few of the contestants going home.
According to Screen Rant and Reality Steve’s spoiler reports, Katie was the network’s original choice to be the lead, but fans were hoping for another woman of color to lead season 17. After some deliberation, the network doubled down on Katie as their choice.
“The more things change, the more they stay the same,” Reality Steve tweeted on March 3. “The original spoiler I reported seems to be correct. Katie Thurston is set to be announced as the Bachelorette in the coming days.”
We’re excited to see an official announcement regarding the next lead and more concrete details about a release date.
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