Nothing lasts forever. “Vanderpump Rules,” which periodically caught lightning in a bottle over 11 seasons of reality TV, is in for a remodel.
Bravo announced Tuesday that it would shed the original cast for a “new group of close-knit SUR-vers who are as complicatedly involved with one another as their iconic predecessors.” Lisa Vanderpump, as always, will remain among the cast and as an executive producer.
Cast members, who have not been announced yet, will be picked from among the staff at Vanderpump’s two West Hollywood mainstay restaurants, SUR and TomTom. Production starts next year, Bravo said in a release.
Fans lamented online about “Vanderpump Rules” losing its cast, worried that a remake would end poorly if the new cast was too focused on social media fame. (Think “The Real Housewives of New York City.”)
The show’s remodel came in a whirlwind of “Vanderpump” news, the latest of which was former cast members Tom Schwartz and Tom Sandoval announcing Monday they would close their L.A. bar Schwartz & Sandy’s at the end of December.
Sandoval is still wrapped up in a revenge-porn lawsuit involving his former co-star Rachel Leviss. The scandal, dubbed “Scandoval,” bubbled over after revelations that he had cheated on his longtime girlfriend and co-star Ariana Madix with Leviss, and that explicit images of Leviss may have been shared. Some fans online blamed the scandal for the reboot.
“I can’t believe they RHONY’d Vanderpump Rules. I’ll never forgive Sandoval. I need 6 weeks to grieve the loss. #PumpRules,” one person wrote on X.
Other former co-stars, including Jax Taylor, Brittany Cartwright and Kristen Doute, have moved to Bravo spinoff “The Valley,” with short cameos during its first season from Lala Kent and Scheana Shay. It was not clear whether they or other former “Vanderpump” stars would make additional appearances.
Taylor and Cartwright filed for divorce in August, which is sure to be picked up in Season 2 of “The Valley.” Doute also announced her first pregnancy Tuesday, with fiancé Luke Broderick.
Bravo said it would air a retrospective episode to celebrate the first 11 seasons of “Vanderpump Rules” but did not announce a date.
