After more than two decades, could The Bachelor be canceled? Following two less-than-successful seasons, it doesn’t look too good for Bachelor Nation’s future on ABC, but whether the network has officially pulled the plug on The Bachelor is yet to be determined.
Is The Bachelor canceled?
Fans started to speculate that The Bachelor had been canceled after ABC announced the unscripted series it had renewed for the 2025 to 2026 television season, and The Bachelor as not on that list. Instead, the five shows were American Idol, Shark Tank, Celebrity Wheel of Fortune, Celebrity Jeopardy! and America’s Funniest Home Videos.
The speculation came after news broke in February 2025 that The Bachelorette—The Bachelor’s long-running spinoff that premiered in 2003—had been canceled and would not be airing in 2025. The announcement came as The Bachelorette, which typically starts production in March with the past three seasons premiering in July, was expected to begin filming.
So is The Bachelor canceled too? While ABC hasn’t officially announced whether the series has been renewed, at the time of writing, it’s likely that it will return. Both The Golden Bachelor Season 2 and Bachelor in Paradise Season 10—two spinoffs of The Bachelor—are set to premiere in the fall, which is a positive sign that ABC is still investing in the franchise.
Deadline also reported in February 2025 that, while The Bachelorette won’t air in its typical time slot in 2025, the series isn’t dead for good and ABC hasn’t ruled out a return in the future. This means that ABC may also not be canceling The Bachelor, but reorganizing its schedule to air the show later in 2026 (or even 2027) instead of its usual premiere date in January. Still, the uncertain future around The Bachelor and The Bachelorette does put pressure on The Golden Bachelor and Bachelor in Paradise. If those shows are also unsuccessful, there could be tough decisions ahead.
Following speculation that The Bachelor had been canceled, Jenn Tran, the lead of The Bachelorette Season 21, addressed claims that she and Season 29 Bachelor Grant Ellis were responsible for the end of the franchise.
“No, no, no, you guys are looking at this all wrong,” Jenn said in a TikTok video in response to a fan who claimed the franchise was in “shambles” because of her and Grant. “I was actually such an amazing Bachelorette and my relationship ended in such success that they can simply never find anyone to replace me because my season will be forever ingrained in your little brains and you’re never going to get out of your heads. Thank you.”
As for why The Bachelorette was put on pause, Bachelor Nation alums Ashley Iaconetti and Ben Higgins claimed on their podcast,” Almost Famous,” in March 2025 that production sources told them that 75 percent of the filming dates for The Bachelorette Season 22 — including in European locations like Greece and Portugal — were set before ABC decided to cancel the show for 2025. The hosts also alleged that an iHeartRadio podcast-themed date was in the works with Ben and Ashley I., as well as other iHeartRadio podcast hosts such as Jana Kramer, Jennie Garth, Kevin McHale, and Jenna Ushkowitz set to take part. The date was allegedly a competition-themed date with the winner receiving an invite to the iHeartRadio Music Awards.
Because The Bachelorette reportedly planned to film in Europe instead of staying in Los Angeles to save costs — as ABC did with The Golden Bachelor and The Golden Bachelorette — Ben explained that he didn’t believe The Bachelorette was canceled in 2025 due to money. Instead, Ben and Ashley I. alleged that the main reason they heard The Bachelorette was canceled for 2025 was because ABC couldn’t find as strong of a lead as Maria Georgas, the fourth-place finalist from The Bachelor Season 28 with Joey Graziadei, who allegedly was set to become the Season 22 Bachelorette until negotiations fell through.
“It sounds like from our source that Maria was the frontrunner,” Ben said. “The powers that be really wanted to be the lead of this season. It really sounds to me like they couldn’t make it work with Maria for whatever reason that was, and because of that, they had to pull the plug on the show because somebody who had a lot of influence on the show was fairly stuck on that storyline saying, ‘If we don’t do Maria, it’s not worth doing.’”
Ashley I added, “We’re pretty certain Maria was a frontrunner to be the Bachelorette as she was a frontrunner to be the Bachelorette during Jenn’s season. The source says that they don’t know exactly what happened, but they couldn’t make Maria happen and that’s why the show didn’t get picked up because I’m assuming they didn’t have a strong enough lead to get enough ratings.”
Ben also explained that the ratings and negative response to the cast for The Bachelorette Season 21 with Jenn Tran also likely played a part in ABC’s decision to not renew The Bachelorette for 2025. “This seems like the reason this season isn’t happening. The ratings haven’t been good enough. Even though I think there have been great seasons, but I go back to I think the show took a massive hit with the men that were cast for Jenn’s season,” he said. “Jenn did a great job. I think we’ve seen Jenn thrive after her role as the Bachelorette, but I think the men on her season really hurt the show. And because the show did the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ strategy, I think the show is in a really tough place.”
Ben and Ashley I. also claimed that part of the reason ABC canceled The Bachelorette was because the network believed that it could fill The Bachelorette’s usual time slot with Hulu’s The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, which has a similar demographic and has already finished filming.
