The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives‘ Taylor Frankie Paul hasn’t given up on love just yet — and she’s taking over another Disney franchise in hopes of finding it.
The MomTok sensation has been tapped as the leading lady for Season 22 of ABC‘s The Bachelorette.
As the breakout star of Hulu’s The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, Paul has already shared a pretty unfiltered picture of her life as a single mom of three. Last we saw her in Season 2 of Mormon Wives, Paul was trying to make things work with Dakota Mortensen, the father of her youngest son, Ever.
But, after a rocky romance, Paul revealed shortly after the second season premiered in May that the couple had officially called things off. Audiences will likely be brought up to speed on the breakup in Season 3, which premieres on November 13.
Per her ABC bio, she’s looking to lead with “humor, resilience and a fearless openness” to inspire others to “embrace life’s chaos and own their story.”
This is the first time that The Bachelorette will be led by a woman who was not previously part of the franchise in some capacity. However, there is a blueprint for choosing a lead from outside the franchise after Matt James was tapped to lead Season 25 of The Bachelor without prior association with the show. Paul is now the third Mormon Wives star who will appear on an ABC franchise this fall, since Jen Affleck and Whitney Leavitt have both been cast on Season 34 of Dancing with the Stars.
Deadline understands that the upcoming season of The Bachelorette will essentially replace The Bachelor in early 2026, though an exact release date has not yet been revealed. Season 22 comes after ABC paused the franchise earlier this year with the female-led flagship program essentially being replaced by Season 10 of Bachelor in Paradise, which did not air in 2024, making way for The Golden Bachelorette.
ABC has been playing a bit of musical chairs with the Bachelor franchise since adding the golden iterations. There isn’t enough room for all five of the current versions on air in the same year, so the network has begun to switch between certain iterations on a yearly basis.
As of now, the network plans for The Bachelorette to segue into another season of Paradise. The Bachelor could return with Season 30 next year but this is unlikely and it’s more likely to come back in 2027 when the franchise will be celebrating its 25th anniversary.
ABC renewed The Bachelor in June for Season 30 with Scott Teti, who served as showrunner of Bachelor in Paradise, as executive producer. Teti will now serve as executive producer of The Bachelorette, which is produced by Warner Horizon Unscripted Television.
Similarly, The Golden Bachelorette aired its first season last fall. That means this year it’s time for another round of The Golden Bachelor, which premieres September 24.
Peter White contributed to this report.
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