‘The Golden Bachelorette’ Set For Fall Premiere At ABC; ‘The Bachelorette’ To Return In Summer

It’s official! The Bachelor franchise is expanding once again.

After the success of the inaugural season of The Golden Bachelor, ABC has decided to give a golden woman her own second chance at love on The Golden Bachelorette, the network announced Saturday at Disney’s Television Critics Association Press Tour panel.

So far, there’s no news on who will be the first leading lady, as ABC says those details will come later, along with the exact premiere date. President of Disney Television Group Craig Erwich says that casting is “well underway.”

ABC also announced Saturday that The Bachelorette is returning this summer. Likewise, no other details were shared.

Given the success of The Golden Bachelor, this new spinoff should come as no surprise. The premiere episode of The Golden Bachelor set ratings records for ABC, debuting as the highest-rated premiere on Hulu for any series in The Bachelor franchise (The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, Bachelor in Paradise), and as the network’s No. 1 series premiere ever on the streaming platform in Live+3 with 1.76 million views.

After 35-days of viewing, the premiere episode soared to a combined multi-platform audience of 13.9M viewers across its debut telecast on September 28 and its rebroadcast on October 3, and it set a streaming record as ABC‘s most-watched episode of an unscripted series ever on Hulu.

And it wasn’t just the premiere that received the ratings rose. By the time hometown dates rolled around, that episode boasted the franchise’s best 3-day audience in more than two years. The finale stayed strong too, delivering the franchise’s best audience in nearly four years.

The Golden Bachelorette joins a robust slate for the franchise that includes The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, Bachelor in Paradise and The Golden Bachelor. The entire franchise is produced by Warner Bros. Unscripted Television in association with Warner Horizon.