Former Bachelor Nation producer Julie LaPlaca is sharing her expert opinion on the future of Taylor Frankie Paul’s Bachelorette season after it was pulled from the air.
“I think viewers will see that season,” Julie, 41, shared in an exclusive interview with Us Weekly while promoting her memoir, The Love Producer, out Tuesday, July 7.
Reality TV fans were first introduced to Taylor, 32, on Hulu’s The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, which debuted in 2024. One year later, news broke that the MomTok influencer was chosen to lead the 22nd season of The Bachelorette.
In March — days before the season was set to premiere — ABC announced that the episodes would not air amid a domestic assault investigation involving her ex Dakota Mortensen. Dakota alleged in court documents that Taylor shoved him into a window and choked him. He further claimed that he feared for the safety of the pair’s 2-year-old son, Ever. (Taylor also shares daughter Indy, 8, and son Ocean, 6, with ex-husband Tate Paul.)
Amid the fallout, Dakota was granted temporary custody of Ever in March and a temporary restraining order against Taylor, who has denied any child abuse allegations. Taylor was later granted her own protective order against Dakota, with a judge ordering the former couple to stay 100 feet away from each other during a hearing in April.
After initially being granted supervised visitation with Ever, Taylor earned unsupervised visitation rights in June. The drama took another turn, however, when Dakota called the cops with a question about whether his protective order had been violated.
News later broke on Tuesday, June 30, that Tate filed a motion for his own temporary restraining order against Taylor, which was ultimately denied.
As the disputes continue to play out off camera, rumors surfaced that Taylor’s season may begin to air this month. ABC has not yet announced an official decision about the season’s future.
While Taylor’s unconventional Bachelorette casting may have come as a surprise to some, Julie — who worked behind the scenes on the franchise for seven years — understood the choice.
“It didn’t come as a surprise to me,” she told Us, noting that the team behind the series likely wanted to find something “new and fresh” for viewers. “They’re always trying to figure out something different to do.”
Julie even drew a comparison to Hannah Brown’s “very iconic season,” which she had a hand in producing.
“It’s like, ‘Who’s that next hot mess express,’ if you will, and they probably saw that in Taylor Frankie Paul,” Julie says, referring to a nickname used to describe Hannah’s personality. “[That casting] doesn’t surprise me, and I feel like if and when it airs, it’ll probably do really well.”
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