Bachelor Nation is back on the small screen this summer, but not with Clare Crawley's long-awaited search for love as the leading lady of The Bachelorette. Production shutdowns throughout the entertainment industry in the spring meant that The Bachelor: Listen to Your Heart was the only Bachelor show that was able to finish. With no season of Bachelor in Paradise on the horizon, the big question on the minds of many Bachelor Nation fans is undoubtedly: when is Clare Crawley's delayed Bachelorette season actually going to happen?
Well, Bachelor Nation host Chris Harrison took the time during the series premiere of The Bachelor: The Greatest Seasons Ever before diving into Sean Lowe's time as the Bachelor to deliver an update on Clare Crawley's season of The Bachelorette. Filming from his home rather than the iconic Bachelor mansion, Harrison shared:
Under normal circumstances right now, we would all be watching Clare on her journey to find love as the Bachelorette, but as we all know these are not normal times. I’m not even at the mansion. I’m actually home right now, in my office. I’ve got three remote cameras and a one-man crew. My 18-year-old son Joshua, who just graduated from high school, who’s killing it right now running the cameras, the lights, and everything else. But as they say, the show must go on, right? So here we go. We do promise, we will bring you Clare’s incredible season as soon as we can, but I want you to know what we have planned is pretty special.
Clare Crawley's season of The Bachelorette is still on the way, and Chris Harrison promised something "incredible" that will make it to ABC as soon as possible. His comments indicate that The Bachelorette is a priority, so Bachelor Nation isn't just going to skip Clare Crawley to try and get back on schedule.
After all, normal years in Bachelor Nation involve a season of The Bachelor, a season of The Bachelorette, and a season of Bachelor in Paradise featuring those who didn't find love on the latest Bachelor and Bachelorette seasons, along with other franchise alums. Bachelor in Paradise is also very much a summer show.
Chris Harrison didn't drop any details about when production on Clare Crawley's season of The Bachelorette might be able to begin, what kind of changes might be in store, and whether her season will be as long as normal seasons in Bachelor Nation, which have run between 11-13 episodes in recent years. The Bachelor: Listen to Your Heart ran for only six weeks and managed to cram a music competition show and a Bachelor dating show into a month and a half, so I can imagine a shorter season of The Bachelorette.
Clare Crawley was already a somewhat surprising choice as leading lady of the next season of The Bachelorette, as she had not been one of the ladies hoping for Pilot Peter Weber's heart or even the fence-jumping Colton Underwood the season before. Could this be the first sign of change in the franchise?
Former Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay recently revealed that 'it's embarrassing to be affiliated" with the Bachelor franchise due to a lack of diversity among the Bachelor Nation leads, and Peter Weber landing the latest Bachelor slot happened in spite of Mike Johnson as a standout candidate who also would have been the first black Bachelor. In fact, Peter hadn't even felt like much of a standout, partially due to his absence from Bachelor in Paradise and the fact that he was then most memorable as the windmill sex guy rather than any personality quirks.
One of the few certainties about Bachelor Nation at this point is that Clare Crawley is on the way. Her batch of suitors hasn't even been confirmed. For now, diehard Bachelor Nation fans only have The Bachelor: The Greatest Seasons Ever for new-ish content. New episodes air on Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. For more viewing options now and in the not-too-distant future, check out our 2020 summer premiere schedule.
