Seven new apples were just delivered to Bravo headquarters.
The new cast of The Real Housewives of New York City was announced Sunday, fulfilling part of the network’s promise to reboot the franchise entirely. The second half of that promise was, as Bravo first announced last spring, to film a spin-off series featuring veterans of the long-running show. There’s no news on that yet—despite RHONY alum Dorinda Medley herself asking Andy Cohen when she’s going to be brought back to the show on Sunday at BravoCon.
BravoCon, the weekend-long fan summit featuring dozens of panels, meet-and-greets, and fan events, was the occasion for the big RHONY cast announcement. The seven budding Bravolebs made a surprise appearance during Sunday night’s taping of Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen.
The biggest name on the new cast is Jenna Lyons, the former president and executive director of J. Crew. (She’s made several appearances on the network previously in that capacity.) Joining her are Sai De Silva, creative director of the website Scout the City; Ubah Hassan, a philanthropist, model, and hot sauce entrepreneur (sure!); Erin Dana Lichy, a real estate agent; Lizzy Savetsky, an influencer (it was a matter of time); Jessel Taank, a fashion publicist; and Brynn Whitfield, who works in marketing.
The last season of RHONY ended in April 2021, and was noteworthy as being the first season for which Bravo opted not to film a reunion. (There was an investigation into alleged incidents involving original cast member Ramona Singer that delayed the taping, until the network ultimately decided against having a reunion at all.) Sonja Morgan, Luann de Lesseps, Leah McSweeney, and Eboni K. Williams were also a part of the season, which was widely criticized for several problematic and triggering conversations involving race and religion.
Morgan and de Lesseps just announced their own spin-off series, the very Simple Life-sounding series Welcome to Crappie, while McSweeney is on the third season of Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip. Many former cast members were among the nearly 200 Bravo celebrities who appeared at BravoCon over the weekend.
According to Bravo, the new cast of RHONY will debut in 2023.
