The Bachelor alum Ashley Iaconetti has predicted The Bachelorette fans will soon see Taylor Frankie Paul's season.
ADVERTISEMENT
ABC announced its decision to cancel Taylor's The Bachelorette season on March 19, several days before it was scheduled to premiere, after a 2023 video leaked of Taylor verbally and physically attacking her ex-boyfriend and baby daddy, Dakota Mortensen.
Amid backlash over the shocking video, Taylor has been in a custody battle with Dakota over their son Ever True, 2. (Taylor is also mom to son Ocean, 6, and daughter Indy, 8, with ex-husband Tate Paul).
After about two-and-a-half months of supervised parenting time, a Utah commissioner ruled on June 1 that Taylor could begin spending unsupervised time with Ever.
"I think that as the court decides that she's more and more able to be with her child full time, it's likely we could probably see the series," Ashley, 38, told Us Weekly.
ADVERTISEMENT
The former couple's custody arrangement will be revisited at their next court date on July 8.
"Well, right now, she doesn't have custody [of Ever]. She has unsupervised visits, which obviously was a win when [she and Dakota] were last in court a couple of weeks ago," Ashley said during the June 17 episode of "The Ben & Ashley I: Almost Famous Podcast."
The Bachelor in Paradise alum continued, "But the hope is, in July -- the July 8 date -- that she'll get custody back in some capacity and then, perhaps, that's when [ABC] will be like, 'Well, if she has custody of her kids, I guess we can air the show.'"
Speculation that Taylor's The Bachelorette season would be released on Hulu sometime this summer has swirled in the last couple of months.
If Taylor does, in fact, win -- or have a favorable ruling -- at her next court date with Dakota, Ashley predicted earlier this month, "I think [The Bachelorette] is going to air on Hulu in August. This is just what my gut has been whispering to me. I'm assuming she's going to get custody back."
ADVERTISEMENT
If Dakota wins custody of Ever, however, Ashley said she doesn't think The Bachelorette's 22nd season will air -- at least not any time soon.
"If [Taylor regaining custody] doesn't happen, do they just never go forward with it?" The Real Housewives of Rhode Island star questioned.
"I think, for some reason, to me, this says August, which is, like, six months after it was supposed to air. And it's still saying, 'Hello, it's still summer time,' [that typical] summer TV, The Bachelorette, Bachelor in Paradise window."
Former The Bachelorette star Kaitlyn Bristowe recently shared that she really wants Taylor's The Bachelorette season to air.
Kaitlyn -- who competed against Ashley on The Bachelor 19 before she starred on The Bachelorette's eleventh season in 2015 -- told "Page Six Radio" that her fingers are crossed she'll get to watch Taylor hand out roses.
ADVERTISEMENT
"Obviously, I love Taylor! Her and I speak every once in a while, but I feel like there's some unspoken bond we have, where we both are like, 'My mess sees your mess and let's be messy together,'" Kaitlyn shared.
Kaitlyn apparently believes Taylor's The Bachelorette season would be a hit.
"I want to see! I want to see how she'd probably -- they would let her be herself, you know?" she said of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star.
"I feel like they kind of tried to keep the Bachelors and Bachelorettes, to a certain degree, like you have to be buttoned-up [and cookie cutter]. And I feel like they're going to let Taylor just go rogue."
While he didn't confirm whether Taylor's The Bachelorette season will ever air, Disney executive Rob Mills recently said that things will be taken "one day at a time" but he hopes viewers will eventually see the "wonderful" and "fantastic" season.
ADVERTISEMENT
Kaitlyn apparently hopes so too, mainly because "many people put their lives on hold" to film The Bachelorette.
"I always think about the camera crew and how that's like how they feed their families," Kaitlyn lamented about The Bachelorette's cancellation.
"And they work so hard and they're away from their families all the time. I always think about all the behind-the-scenes."
A couple of dozen men also took time out of their busy lives to film The Bachelorette's 22nd season late last year.
Kaitlyn said she actually bumped into two of the suitors at CMA Fest in early June.
"They were like, 'Hey, we wanted to introduce ourselves. We were from Taylor's season.' And I was like, 'Cuties!'" Kaitlyn recalled.
"And I was like, 'Do you think it's going to air?' And of course they don't know. [They said], 'Well we thought you would know!' But we all have this feeling that it's going to happen."
Kaitlyn also revealed that she just talked to Taylor and learned she's doing well.
While Taylor vented on Instagram earlier this month that she's gone "emotionally numb," she was granted a protective order to keep Dakota away from her and won't face charges stemming from Dakota's February domestic violence allegations against her.
Although many fans are waiting for The Bachelorette's return, The Bachelor and Bachelor in Paradise are definitely scheduled to air new seasons in 2027.
Click here to read all the spoilers for Taylor Frankie Paul's The Bachelorette season and find out her winner and how her journey ended.