Everything to Know About Taylor Frankie Paul's Season of 'The Bachelorette,' Including Whether It Will Ever Air

When Taylor Frankie Paul was announced as the next Bachelorette on ABC’s long-running franchise in fall 2025, it was a casting choice that felt both random…but also obvious. For some members of Bachelor Nation, who aren’t familiar with The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star, she may have seemed like a surprising—perhaps even controversial, given her “soft swinging” scandal—decision. But for fans of the hit Hulu reality show who have watched the #MomTok influencer struggle, blossom, cry, and push through the highest highs and the lowest lows for four seasons, it felt like an organic growth—a true IYKYK moment—despite the risk.

However, we now know that the Bachelor producers' risk did not pan out. Days before Taylor's Bachelorette debut was set to air in March 2026, the season was cancelled among a legal battle that also put the brakes on her original series. Months later, the fate of the shelved Bachelorette season is still up in the air—even as SLOMW season 5 spills all on its unaired ending.

With season 5 now on Hulu, we’re breaking down the timeline of Taylor Frankie Paul's involvement with The Bachelorette, and whether her dating-show journey will ever see the light of day.

Why was Taylor Frankie Paul selected as the next Bachelorette?

The Bachelor and Bachelorette franchise famously selects from within its own roster of previous “Bachelor Nation” contestants to lead the forthcoming season. It keeps viewers tuned in—and also stirs drama, with contestants frequently questioning whether their costars are there for reasons other than the heart of the current Bachelor or Bachelorette. The only exception to this casting practice was in 2021, with season 25 lead, Matt James. (He was originally cast as a contestant for Clare Crawley’s Bachelorette season, but before filming began, he was plucked from the lineup and promoted to lead the next installment of The Bachelor.)

While Taylor wasn’t a part of Bachelor Nation, she did previously express her interest in crossing over in June 2025. When asked by Variety what she thinks of fans saying she’d make a great Bachelorette, she said she’d “absolutely” be interested. It’s hard to know exactly what transpired for her to secure the spot—but the team behind SLOMW has been particularly strategic in turning its influencer ensemble into bona fide stars, and it’s worth noting that ABC and Hulu are both owned by the same parent company, The Walt Disney Company. On top of that, one can assume that, as The Bachelor franchise experiences an identity crisis, it has an incentive to cast a new lead with an established audience to attract new viewers. That’s not to mention that there was already drama to start the season, with Taylor’s on-and-off relationship with her ex/the husband of her children, Dakota Mortensen, and her unabashed willingness to wear her emotions on her sleeve and speak her mind, no matter the consequences. Basically, producers found a lead that was sure to make for a must-watch season of The Bachelorette.

When was 'The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives' season 4 filmed?

The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives season 4 covered most of fall 2025, leading up to Taylor flying out to L.A. to start filming The Bachelorette. Audiences saw the moment the world learned of Taylor’s Bachelorette casting in episode 2, and witnessed how that announcement sends ripples among #MomTok. While Taylor’s journey to The Bachelorette certainly wasn’t the only major storyline of this season, it did loom over each episode.

A tracker counting down the days, hours, and minutes until Taylor left for Bachelor Mansion frequently flashed across the screen, reminding viewers of the dwindling time until Taylor stepped into her new leading role. It lent an ominous weight to many decisions she had to make, including what to do about her relationship with her ex, Dakota, and how she wanted to “heal” herself by dating 30 different men.

When was the Taylor Frankie Paul season of 'The Bachelorette' filmed?

While Hulu and ABC have not confirmed, longtime reality TV aficionado Reality Steve reported that The Bachelorette began filming on October 26. That makes sense, considering SLOMW season 4 ends with Jessi and Jordan’s Halloween party. It’s been confirmed that she filmed during the last few months of 2025 and wrapped sometime in December. At the time, she commemorated the end of filming on Instagram.

“Never experienced anything like this. Can’t wait to talk all about it, share it, show it,” she wrote in the caption, paired with a series of photos of her from throughout production. “This will be worth the wait, stay tuned coming in March.”

What was Taylor Frankie Paul and Dakota Mortensen's relationship status going into her season of 'The Bachelorette?'

Taylor had a few romantic interests in SLOMW season 4: At the start of the season, she divulged her crush on fellow TikToker, Ben Lambert (going so far as to hang out with him when he visited Utah), and fancied a brief dalliance with another reality star, Harry Jowsey. However, Taylor’s ex and baby daddy, Dakota Mortensen, remained at the center of Taylor’s orbit for much of this season. It seemed season 3's revelation that Dakota was texting inappropriately with a close family friend of Taylor’s during her pregnancy was the “point of no return” for Taylor and her family. It showed there was no hope for the two to ever be in a happy relationship in the wake of all of Dakota’s transgressions, thus pushing Taylor into the arms of The Bachelorette.

Many people, including Taylor, admitted throughout this season that the only way for her to move on from Dakota was to go on The Bachelorette—and yet they couldn’t seem to let each other go. It was a tumultuous, Sisyphean season for the two. The countdown to Taylor leaving for The Bachelorette didn’t seem to register as an expiration date for them, as they continued to fight, make up, re-couple, and then try to break away from each other. Just when you think it’s finally over, they tumble back into each other again, or another one of Dakota’s wrongdoings is revealed (like how he hooked up Shinia Powell, one of Miranda McWhorter’s friends) and breaks Taylor’s heart—sending them both rolling back to square one.

This continued until hours before Taylor left to film The Bachelorette. Dakota went to Taylor’s house to drop off their son, Ever, the night before Taylor was due to fly out, saying it might be the last time they see each other for two months. We then saw Dakota the next morning, walking out of Taylor’s house. When asked by producers what happened, Dakota smirked. The coupling sent Taylor spiraling enough that she didn’t board her morning flight to L.A. with her mom and sister, telling her mother she felt sick.

Taylor ultimately got on a later flight, finally jetting off to film The Bachelorette—but Dakota was still able to make one final attempt for her attention right before producers took her phone for filming. In a FaceTime with Taylor, Dakota apologized for hooking up with Miranda’s friend. “All I’m gonna say is, save a rose for me,” he told Taylor. Hours later, at Jessi Draper and Jordan Ngatikaura’s Halloween party, we saw Dakota flirting with Shinia.

The season ended with a bombshell from Dakota to Jessi and Jordan that Taylor hadn’t had her period yet. “Is she going to be a pregnant Bachelorette?” Jessi asked in disbelief. (Spoiler alert, she wasn’t.)

Why was Taylor Frankie Paul’s season of ‘The Bachelorette’ cancelled?

Three days before the premiere of Taylor Frankie Paul's season of The Bachelorette, ABC announced that it will no longer air.

Variety reported on March 19 that the network has paused the release of Taylor's season of the hit dating show until further notice. As of mid-September, there is no firm plan to reschedule the release.

The cancellation comes amid an ongoing domestic assault investigation involving the #MomTok influencer.

According to Variety, a Disney Entertainment Television spokesperson explained that the decision came after a leaked video about the alleged incident surfaced. They said, "In light of the newly released video just surfaced today, we have made the decision to not move forward with the new season of The Bachelorette at this time, and our focus is on supporting the family."

News of the alleged domestic assault surfaced shortly after season 4 of Mormon Wives aired. At the time, reports emerged that filming on season 5 was paused due to allegations of domestic violence from both parties, including Taylor and her ex, Dakota Mortensen. The reality hit eventually resumed production that May.

When was 'The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives' season 5 filmed?

Despite fan speculation that season 5 would show both the lead-up to and the aftermath of its filming hiatus, SLOMW’s latest installment only includes scenes filmed before cameras went down in mid-March 2026. Season 5 premiered on September 10 at five episodes long, just half of the episodes originally ordered by Hulu. Though the show’s cast (sans Taylor) did return to finish filming confessional interviews in May, no new scenic footage from that period was included in season 5. (We’ll have to wait for season 6.)

As for what season 5 does cover, the show’s timeline picks up almost immediately after Taylor returns from filming The Bachelorette. SLOMW’s eventual production pause hangs over the entire installment, with a countdown similar to season 4’s, and an intro montage of influencer clips recapping the public response to the allegations and the Bachelorette cancellation. After the show sets up a how did we get here arc, we follow Taylor as she juggles her new engagement(!), her ongoing feelings for Dakota, and her newly-strengthened feelings for Ben (the TikTok guy).

What do we know about the Taylor Frankie Paul season of ‘The Bachelorette’ so far?

Despite the fate of Taylor’s Bachelorette season still being up in the air (more on that later), The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives season 5 doesn’t make any attempt to avoid spoilers. In the premiere, Jessi Draper, Mayci Neeley, and Mikayla Matthews discuss visiting the Bachelorette set to meet Taylor’s top 3 men, Shane Parton, Lew Evans, and Doug Mason. Though they don’t know who she picked at the time, Jessi, Mayci, and Mikayla agree that Shane and Lew are the “healthy choices” and that Doug seemed like he wasn’t there for the right reasons. Cut to Taylor, who reveals that she got engaged to Doug.

However, as Internet sleuths know, Taylor and Doug’s engagement didn’t last long. Before season 5 even arrived, rumors began swirling that Taylor had slept with Dakota again upon returning to Utah post-Bachelorette. She admits in the season 5 premiere that she’d been regularly cheating on Doug with Dakota since they got back. (Dakota was also cheating on his new girlfriend, Emma Shippen, with Taylor.) We see her confront Dakota with the knowledge that he continued hooking up with Shinia while she was away, but it's unclear whether she plans to keep on sleeping with him. (Her exact words are “Only for one thing. That’s all I need you for.”)

Meanwhile, while she’s keeping Dakota secret from both Doug and the Bachelorette producers, Taylor reveals that she’s in love with a third guy! It turns out that she also reconnected with Ben Lambert after returning to Utah, and he’d given her more butterflies than any of the other men. In fact, Ben knew about Taylor cheating with Dakota before Doug did. In classic Taylor chaos, she later turns #MomTok’s trip to support Whitney on Broadway into a secret tryst with Ben, who has to stay sequestered in her hotel so they don’t get papped. She dumps him at the end of the trip because he wants to date for marriage and she doesn’t.

Amidst all this, Taylor does at least knock her fiance off her roster. To be fair, she points out that Doug had been distant since they went back home after filming. He even left her a voicemail suggesting that they take a three-day break from talking to each other. So, in episode 2, we learn that Taylor had dumped Doug offscreen after cancelling their “happy couple,” a.k.a. one of the getaways where the Bachelor/Bachelorette and their final pick can have some private one-on-one time before the season airs.

With that, Taylor’s Bachelorette season is completely spoiled before it can even air.

Will the Taylor Frankie Paul season of 'The Bachelorette' ever come out?

So, will Taylor’s infamous Bachelorette run ever make it to our screens? I’d argue that the answer is now “what’s the point,” after SLOMW gave the whole thing away. However, pre- season 5’s airing, it was still a possibility. In late April, Disney’s head of unscripted entertainment, Rob Mills, told The Hollywood Reporter that “everything really is a day at a time.” That was followed by rumors around late July that ABC still had plans to air the shelved installment.

There is one possible reason that ABC would still want to air Taylor’s season. One of her finalists, Shane, has been floated as a possible lead for the next season of The Bachelor, which is set for early 2027. If he, or any of Taylor’s men, end up with the gig, then the network could air the shelved episodes to make sure viewers get to know the new lead before his season.

The fate of the Bachelor franchise is best left to the producers, but if Taylor had her way, she’d be up to returning for a do-over. Upon season 5’s airing, the reality star revealed that she is now celibate, while posting pictures from a shelved magazine cover paired to her season. She wrote in the caption, “ps should we release the tapes now just to see? ..and maybe bachelorette round two?? lmfao”