The Bachelorette Sets a Tentative Shooting Schedule
The Bachelorette halted production the day Clare Crawley and a cast of suitors was to begin shooting last month. In other words, filming never got off the ground, and the series has been in limbo ever since.
Now Variety reports that ABC has put a tentative shooting plan in place. Season 16 is aiming to head into production sometime this summer. If the schedule works, out, the series would air in the fall.
“Clare’s season is happening one hundred percent,” ABC’s reality chief Rob Mills told Variety.
The new season would shoot within the confines of one large location, which is yet to be determined. All contestants and crew members will be tested before entering the private location, and then confined on-site for the duration of the season’s shoot.
Bachelorette Season 16 Will Be Shot in a Single Location with a Quarantined Cast
“We’ve looked at everything — are travel restrictions going to ease up? And it just doesn’t look like anything is changing anytime soon, and what we would rather do is start getting the season underway, sooner rather than later,” Mills told Variety. “As of right now, the plan is to get a great location that has a ton of space where everybody could safely be together and we can still have great dates that still feel big and romantic, and we would shoot the entire season there.”
Because no footage with Clare’s suitors was shot, the network is currently casting for additional contestants. That means some previously announced suitors will not appear on the show, while new contestants are added.
Clare Crawley and Her Suitors Make Take Road Trips if Current Social Distancing Regulations Allow
Without the ability to travel to exotic locations abroad, the series may take road trips, if the plans are in line with current social distancing regulations. It all depends on what rules are in force by the middle of the summer.
Mills said that logistics of Bachelor staples such as the hometown dates are still being figured out.
The production timeline is still very much unknown, given the worldwide uncertainty and rapidly-changing information related to COVID-19. “If I’m being realistic, it would probably be mid-summer that we start,” Mills said, adding that the season would then likely be ready to air this fall.
In the meantime, ABC is airing a Bachelor retrospective titled The Bachelor: The Most Unforgettable – Ever! set for a Monday June 8 debut.
