"The Bachelorette" season 12 just ended, with JoJo Fletcher getting engaged with Jordan Rodgers. "The Bachelor" season 21 will be up next, and while speaking at the press tour for the Television Critics Association, ABC president Channing Dungey explained (via US Magazine) that the next season will be introducing a more diverse cast.
It is noted that "The Bachelor" and its brethren "The Bachelorette" and "Bachelor in Paradise" are severely lacking in racial diversity, something that needs to be addressed soon.
"I would very much like to see some change there. And I think one of the biggest changes that we need to do is we need to increase the pool of diverse candidates in the beginning," she explained. "I think what we'd like to try to do is just widen the pool of faces."
When asked if it was just possible to make a spin-off series like an African-American version of "The Bachelor" or to pick a brand new star to be the lead instead of picking a runner-up from "The Bachelorette" and others Dungey stated that it was possible but very unlikely going to happen.
Dungey explained that the concept of cycling through runner-ups and then using them as the lead for the next season has been a very succesful formula for them and a part of this is because the audience is already well acquainted and engaged with the person.
It is noted by Vine Report that the studios did attempt to shake things up with "The Bachelorette" when it was initially planned to have Caila Quinn, who is American-Filipino, but these plans fell apart when at the very last moment she was replaced with JoJo Fletcher. The studios merely reasoned that JoJo's story was "compelling."
Although no official release date or details for "The Bachelor" season 21 has been announced yet, Dungey did confirm news will be "forthcoming" and the show is expected to premiere in 2017.
