What Is — & Isn’t — Changing This Season On The Bachelorette

Bachelor Nation has been kind of a depressing place to be of late. Between Matt James' Bachelor winner Rachael Kirkconnell's past racist photos (for which she's since apologized), and Chris Harrison attempting to excuse that behavior (he's also since apologized), many of us just needed a long break from Bachelor Nation when Matt's season ended. But now we're heading into a new Bachelorette season with Katie Thurston, of limo night vibrator fame, and it's time to hit the reset button. We haven't forgotten or forgiven necessarily, but we're ready to give Katie's season (and its new hosts) a chance to do better and be better than what the show's given us in the past. 

If you've also been out of Bachelor Nation for a hot minute, here's what you need to know heading into Katie's season.

The Bachelorette begins Monday, June 7 on ABC at 8 p.m. ET, and will presumably air in that time slot for the remainder of the season like in years past. Typically there are 11-13 episodes of a Bachelorette season, but since there are only 10 Mondays between the premiere and when Bachelor in Paradise starts in August, there will likely be at least one week with back-to-back episodes. That tends to happen around Men Tell All time, so late July or early August.

Matt's season took place in Pennsylvania, but production switched it up for Katie's season. According to The Sun, filming took place at the Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort and Spa outside of Albuquerque. A staff member told the outlet that the whole place was closed to the public for March and April while the show taped.

On TikTok, Katie joked that she got lost at the resort during the first night of filming and almost missed the limo entrances.

After the disastrous interview with Rachel Lindsay where Chris Harrison interrupted and lectured the former Bachelorette about racism and being "woke," ABC announced that he wouldn't be hosting Katie's season. Instead, former Bachelorettes Kaitlyn Bristowe and Tayshia Adams took over as co-hosts.

Katie was a big fan of the choice, writing on Instagram, "This journey wouldn’t have been possible without the love, support, and sisterhood of @kaitlynbristowe and @tayshia and I'm forever thankful for them!" she wrote. "We laughed. We cried. Plenty of advice was given paired with many, many, hugs. And the female energy was strong! We love women supporting women."

According to Us Weekly, filming wrapped a week early, because Katie was in control of the timeline, and she was done. Does that mean she knew who she wanted and didn't want to wait an extra week to get that ring? Or maybe she didn't like any of the guys and she didn't want to lead them on further? We'd possibly go with the former, because Katie's already been sending out marriage hints since filming wrapped. "Something borrowed. Something blue," she captioned a recent vacation photo. 

As soon as Katie got back to the real world, she got vaccinated. And then it wasn't too long before she could start hanging out with her Bachelor Nation pals — like the other women from Matt's season. She also made time to see some former Bach Nation stars, like Tammy Ly from Peter Weber's season, and noted Bachelor in Paradise cast members Chris Randone and Chris Bukowski.

Plus, Katie has hinted more than once since filming wrapped that she would be interested in moving to San Diego. Perhaps one of her contestants from San Diego caught her eye? There are several of them from the area.

According to the ABC press site, Katie's cast will be made up of 30 men (the full list is here), including a mystery man who shows up in a box. ABC hasn't released his name yet, but Katie looks shocked by the reveal in the promo. Could it possibly be Blake Moynes from Clare Crawley/Tayshia Adams' season? After he was pictured filming in New Mexico (Bach podcast Almost Famous snagged the exclusive photos), many speculated that he was trying to find love as part of Katie's cast. It could also be that he stopped by to host a date or something as former stars have in the past, but time will tell.

Some of them will, most likely. BiP usually films in June, so since Katie's season wrapped in April, that gave her rejected contestants plenty of time to prep for the summertime spinoff. However, the contestants from Michelle Young's season probably won't be on this season of BiP, because her Bachelorette turn doesn't air until fall. Any of her cast members appearing on BiP would ruin her season's outcome. 

And that's what you missed in Bachelor Nation while you took a much-deserved break. Now it's time to get back to holding this show accountable and hoping that it please, please does better with Katie.