After 11 seasons, two Emmy nominations, four weddings, two divorces, one Scandoval and enough Pumptinis to fill the swimming pool at Villa Rosa, Vanderpump Rules will return next season with an entirely new cast.
Bravo announced this week that Season 12 of ‘Vanderpump Rules’ will return to the show’s roots, with the new cast set to consist of staffers who work at SUR– the West Hollywood restaurant owned by the show’s matriarch and namesake, Lisa Vanderpump.
(While the OG ‘Vanderpump Rules’ cast won’t be returning for the upcoming season, Lisa herself will continue to star on the Bravo series.)
Tom Sandoval, Tom Schwartz, Scheana Shay, Katie Maloney, Ariana Madix, James Kennedy and Lala Kent were notified by production last night that the show was being recast for Season 12, TMZ reports, though most of the current cast wasn’t surprised to hear the news, especially after the network revealed in April that ‘Vanderpump Rules’ was “on pause” until further notice.
After the announcement was made on Tuesday, some of the show’s OGs took to social media to respond to the news, while also reflecting on their ‘Vanderpump Rules’ run.
Katie, one of the few cast members who has remained on the show since Season 1, shared a throwback photo of her wearing one of the infamous SUR handkerchief dresses, along with her thoughts on the announcement.
“It’s a mixed bag,” she wrote. “But I wouldn’t change a thing. Thank you for the memories and the love the last 11 years.”
Ariana, who became a full-time cast member in Season 2, posted a series of photos to social media, telling fans that there was “no post or caption that could ever encapsulate everything.”
“I am forever grateful to have been a part of such an incredible cultural phenomenon,” she wrote before going on to thank Bravo, Lisa, Evolution Media, the ‘Vanderpump Rules’ crew, producers and showrunners. Ariana also thanked fans of ‘Vanderpump Rules’– both “old and new”– for their love and support and for making the show “what it is.”
“ … I’m feeling at peace with closing this chapter and I’m excited for everything that is to come,” she continued. “I don’t know that these were the best days of our lives, but they were definitely something special.”
Lala, who joined the cast of ‘Vanderpump Rules’ in Season 4, also shared some throwback photos and videos, along with a caption reflecting on her former job as a hostess at SUR and how the gig later provided her the opportunity to join the Bravo series.
“ … I have such mixed feelings right now,” Lala wrote. “It’s no secret I do not like change. This is the exception. I want to say thank you for rocking with us for so many years. This show changed my whole life.
“I’m unbelievably grateful for Bravo, NBCU, for our crew, the entire cast, and most importantly all of you,” she continued. “We rocked this b**ch until the wheels fell off.”
Bravo’s Andy Cohen also acknowledged the end of the OG ‘Vanderpump Rules’ era by sharing a nod to the show’s theme song to his Instagram Story.
“These were the best days of our lives…,” he wrote.
Lisa also took to Instagram to thank her OG cast for producing so many seasons of good TV.
“What a wild ride the last 11 years have been. Thank you to all of our cast for sharing your lives and stories and for being a part of this journey. How I’ve loved each and every one of you,” she wrote.
While the ‘Vanderpump Rules’ cast will no longer have a home on the series that made many of them household names (for better or worse), sources tell TMZ that fans will still be forced get to see some of the OGs on Bravo. Lala, Schwartz, Scheana and Schena’s husband, Brock Davies, will reportedly make appearances on Season 2 of The Valley– the ‘Vanderpump Rules’ spinoff starring former ‘Vanderpump Rules’ stars Jax Taylor, Kristen Doute and Brittany Cartwright.
Meanwhile, production on Season 12 of ‘Vanderpump Rules’ appears to be underway, as cameras were rolling at SUR back in September. (At the time, the footage was reportedly being used for a new project.)
A retrospective special is slated to drop ahead of Season 12, giving fans an opportunity to bid farewell to the OG ‘Vanderpump Rules’ cast before the new cast make their debut. While the new cast members have not yet been named, People reports that they are “close-knit SUR-vers who are as complicatedly involved with one another as their iconic predecessors.”
People also reports that money wasn’t the main factor in axing the original cast in favor of new stars.
“It was completely driven by creative,” the magazine’s source said of the decision to recast. “There weren’t any [salary] negotiations happening between the [original] cast and the network where money was even discussed.
“There had been a long pause in production, and nothing had really changed among the cast since the reunion,” the source continued. “Everyone was still stuck in their feelings and refusing to bend. The network felt there was no path forward with the group in that capacity.”
In addition, the show’s producers reportedly wanted to take the show back to its roots– showing the lives of the employees of SUR. Most of the OGs no longer work at the restaurant and haven’t for a long time.
“It just didn’t make sense to continue,” the source told People. “This is an attempt to recalibrate and bring the show back to the thing that made it such a success to begin with. It’s a fresh start, and the players they have are interested and motivated to participate. Fans will be happy with what they see. It’s going to feel like a return to form.”
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(Photos: Bravo; Instagram)
3 Responses
Lala is a living breathing gag fest. Shows what a sick world we live in that she exists.
I too have mixed feelings. I think it’s time, but I truly don’t think they can ever find a cast like the first and second season of VPR. Not unlike jersey shore, it was truly lightning in a bottle. I’m also old, so it’s hard to get invested in younger people. The VPR cast was close to my age so that helped. I’m sure it’ll do great though. And I totally get why they’re doing it
It was time, this past season made it clear. They were a dinosaur in a new era.
Next sister wives.