Behind the scenes of Bravo’s decision to reboot ‘Vanderpump Rules’ with new cast

“Vanderpump Rules” is coming back — but with a new cast. NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

Like all major international incidents, “Scandoval” comes with blowback and fallout — and we’re told that the prestige cheating event of 2023 ultimately doomed the cast.

Bravo’s already popular “Vanderpump Rules” shot to stratospheric reality TV heights last year, when the show’s Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix — a couple for nearly a decade — called it quits after he was caught having an affair with another castmate, Raquel Leviss. 

The affair led to endless headlines, but also reports that Madix refused to film with her straying ex.

A source said that Ariana Madix refused to work with Tom Sandoval. Nicole Weingart/Bravo Tom Sandoval’s affair on the show was a major plotline. Casey Durkin/Bravo

On Tuesday, Page Six reported that “Vanderpump Rules” will return for a Season 12, but with a brand-new cast. And sources subsequently told us that the cast’s refusal to film together led in part to the decision to start fresh.

“Ariana was absolutely insistent that she wouldn’t film [with Tom]. And that really pissed off everyone else,” a series insider told us.

But they’re not the only former couple from the old cast who had a bad split.

Series star Jax Taylor filed for divorce from costar Brittany Cartwright earlier this year, after the Bravo duo welcomed a baby boy in April 2021.

A source adds that after a contentious reunion following the last season, the whole cast had fractured.

Ariana Madix and Tom Sandoval were together for nearly a decade. Nicole Weingart/Bravo The show debuted in 2013. Nicole Weingart/Bravo

Another source close to the production also said that the show — which launched in 2013 when the cast were colleagues at Lisa Vanderpump’s restaurants SUR and the now-closed Pump — needed a cast who can film together, and more.

“It needed a refresh — and a cast that were engaged with each other and prepared to film together,” said the source. “It was time to go back to the restaurants, and have people that were working together, living together and sleeping together.”

The first source claimed that Bravo chose to recast the decade-old show rather than shut it down entirely for financial reasons.

A source says it’s less expensive for Bravo to recast the show. Nicole Weingart/Bravo The new cast has not been announced. Tommy Garcia/Bravo

Another source said of Vanderpump, the “Real Housewives” star at the center of the “Vanderpump” universe, “Lisa is very fond of all the cast members that came through, and you never know what will happen.”

While the revamped series is set to begin production next year, the premiere date and cast have yet to be announced.

The original show also starred Stassi Schroeder, Scheana Shay, Katie Maloney and Kristen Doute. The show also gained — and lost — cast members over the years, including Tom Schwartz, Lala Kent and James Kennedy.

Bravo did not comment.