Just as Clare Crawley was slated to begin looking for love during her journey as The Bachelorette , everything was put on hold. As has been the case with many television shows in recent days, concerns over the coronavirus pandemic have caused a delay in Clare’s The Bachelorette season.
Clare was supposed to start meeting her guys on Friday night. Just a few hours before filming was supposed to get started, the production company officially announced that they wouldn’t be moving forward quite yet.
Some fans had already started to speculate this delay might be coming. It seems some of the guys cast for Clare’s run as The Bachelorette had reactivated their social media accounts earlier on Friday, but it took until later in the day for the network to be ready to go public with the decision.
Entertainment Weekly shared the details coming from Warner Bros., the production company for The Bachelorette .
“With the rapidly changing events related to COVID-19, and out of an abundance of caution, Warner Bros. Television Group is halting production on some of our 70+ series,” the Warner Bros. statement shared.
Among those 70-plus shows being put on hold is The Bachelorette .
For now, The Bachelorette has been put on hold, not entirely canceled. However, the turnaround between filming ending and the season premiere airing is always quite tight for The Bachelorette. Given that, it may be tough to put this on hold and still have a season put together in time for the slated May 18 premiere.
It had already been confirmed that there would be no international travel for Clare and her men this season on The Bachelorette . In fact, host Chris Harrison said earlier this week that they were considering perhaps keeping filming entirely within Los Angeles and not traveling at all.
After EW reported the filming hold, ABC executive Rob Mills shared it on Twitter with an additional note.
“We need to be safe and sane, #Bachelornation but will keep working 24/7 to get back on track as soon as we can!! And don’t forget we still have #LTYH coming Easter Monday!!” Mills tweeted.
The reference to “LTYH” is regarding the spinoff The Bachelor Presents: Listen to Your Heart . That short series finished filming earlier this spring, so it is all ready to go to without any coronavirus concerns.
Luckily, it sounds as if the production company is still hoping to film Clare’s season of The Bachelorette. The series typically finishes filming in early May, with a premiere date often coming just days later, which could certainly present a challenge for everybody involved.
ABC was also planning to do The Bachelor Summer Games and Bachelor in Paradise this summer. The word is that Summer Games will officially be canceled soon and BIP is in limbo at the moment.
Will Clare get her chance to find love this spring as The Bachelorette ? Will producers use this delay to shake up the cast a bit to find bachelors who are closer to her age? Right now there are lots of unknowns and fans will be anxious to learn more.