Taylor Frankie Paul’s ‘Bachelorette’ Season: Premiere Date, Cast, Rumors

Saints and sinners, it’s official: Taylor Frankie Paul, star of “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” is the lead of season 22 of “The Bachelorette,” which is coming sometime in 2026.

The announcement was made on September 10 on an episode of Alex Cooper’s podcast “Call Her Daddy.”

This news comes after ABC announced in February 2025 that the network would be skipping “The Bachelorette” this year in favor of “Bachelor in Paradise,” which wrapped up earlier this month, and “The Golden Bachelor,” which returns on September 25.

In a release, ABC calls Paul “a TikTok powerhouse” who “inspires others to embrace life’s chaos and own their story” with “with humor, resilience and a fearless openness.”

Paul’s season of “The Bachelorette” will air sometime in winter 2026, presumably taking over the typical “Bachelor” slot, which usually airs from January to March.

Here’s what to know about Paul, her time on “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” and what MomTok really is.

Taylor Frankie Paul is a 31-year-old reality star and mom of three from Utah

The argument could be made that Paul is actually the main character of “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” as the show begins in the aftermath of Paul announcing that she had been “soft swinging” with other couples in her social media circle, known as MomTok.

She has two kids with her ex-husband, Tate Paul, and another with her ex-partner, Dakota Mortensen. Throughout the first two seasons of the show, viewers saw Paul deal with the aftermath of the swinging scandal, get arrested on charges of domestic violence in the first episode, get pregnant and give birth to her third child, and ultimately break up with Mortensen.

She’s also had a long-running feud with Whitney Leavitt over control of MomTok. Leavitt and another cast member, Jen Affleck, will be on this season of “Dancing with the Stars.”

Explain more about soft swinging and MomTok, please

This scandal happened in 2022. Paul, who had 3.5 million followers on TikTok at the time (her count has since risen to 5.7 million), announced that she and her then-husband had been in a semi-open relationship, where the two could explore other people in the Mormon TikTok community, but not “go all the way.”

However, Paul ended up breaking that rule and developing feelings for someone else, which led to her divorce. This announcement went viral, and many people tuned into the fallout.

It also caused rampant speculation on Reddit and other social media platforms about which other members of MomTok, a Mormon subcommunity of TikTok that focused on parenting content and viral dances, had participated in swinging. Many made statements denying their involvement.

“The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” began filming a few months later, when Paul was beginning to rebuild her relationships with other members of MomTok and had recently started dating Mortensen.

Taylor Frankie Paul and Dakota Mortensen have been on-and-off for years, but seemingly broke up for good in January 2025

The first episode of the show concludes with bodycam footage taken from a local police officer in February 2023, when authorities were called in response to a suspected domestic violence incident while Paul and Mortensen were fighting. Paul was arrested on misdemeanor charges of assault, criminal mischief, and commission of domestic violence in the presence of a child.

The show’s second episode picked up a year later, when Paul was pregnant with her third child and was on probation from her arrest.

Over the course of the two seasons — and surely the third season, which premieres on Hulu on Nov. 13 — viewers have watched Paul and Mortensen break up and get back together repeatedly.

But, as Paul is going to be the next Bachelorette, they seem to be over for good.

Paul told “Call Her Daddy” host Alex Cooper that she didn’t give her ex a heads-up before the announcement. “I have not confirmed it with him. So I don’t know if he knows or if he knew I had the opportunity,” she said.

Taylor Frankie Paul’s ‘Bachelorette’ season will premiere in 2026

This season of “The Bachelorette” is a season of firsts. It’s the first time the lead hasn’t first appeared on a season of “The Bachelor” beforehand, and it’s the first season in over 20 years to air during the winter. Typically, “The Bachelorette” airs in May.

From Paul’s perspective, she was put on Bachelor Nation’s radar after she jokingly made a TikTok about being single and tagged the show. One thing led to another, and she was offered the role, she told Cooper.

So, instead of season 30 of “The Bachelor” kicking off the new year, we’ll be ringing it in with Paul. Check back here for updates when the premiere date and cast are officially announced.