The announcement we’ve been waiting for has finally been made by ABC.
The Golden Bachelorette is official after months of speculation.
We figured the senior woman-led Bachelor Nation spin-off would be coming after the wild success of the premiere season of The Golden Bachelor.
Gerry Turner’s season of the senior spin-off was a smashing success, pulling in more than four million viewers in the first episode and growing in popularity from there.
The Golden Bachelor took over for fall 2023 unscripted TV, becoming Hulu’s most-watched unscripted show to premiere.
It didn’t take long for viewers to call for another spin-off featuring a woman from the show looking for her senior soulmate.
Rumblings of The Golden Bachelorette led to a casting call that Faith Martin shared in December while making it clear that she would not be the lead – though we’re hoping she was just bluffing and trying to throw us off.
The Golden Bachelorette is coming to ABC this fall
After waiting impatiently to learn about the fate of The Golden Bachelorette, an announcement was made that it will be coming to ABC this fall at the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour, as reported by Variety.
It was suggested last month that The Golden Bachelorette would begin filming this summer. That sounds like the right timing for a show to premiere in the fall.
Who will be The Golden Bachelorette star?
We still don’t know who the star will be, but Bachelor Nation has long been throwing out names, sharing their favorites from The Golden Bachelor, and who they’d like to see take over and go on her own journey to find their person.
It’s a safe bet that The Golden Bachelorette casting will choose from someone on Gerry Turner’s season though, with so many women who appeared in The Golden Bachelor’s first season being so loved by fans.
Some popular choices for The Golden Bachelor lead would be Faith Martin, who said it wouldn’t be her, or Leslie Fhima, the surprise runner-up after everyone — including her — thought she was getting Gerry’s proposal.
Other great options are Joan Vassos, Edith Aguirre, Sandra Mason, or Ellen Goltzer.
Even executive producer Jason Erlich made it sound like someone from Gerry’s season would be taking the lead.
At a Variety panel in December, he said, “There are so many incredible women from this season. That would be really hard not to. There are just so many, and you can picture what that would look like in several different ways, and it’s all exciting and fun.”
The Golden Bachelor will premiere in the fall of 2024 on ABC.