Back in March, unprecedented news shook the Real Housewives fandom to its core when Andy Cohen announced that one of the most popular series in the franchise would be getting a makeover on par with Dr. Wendy’s plastic surgery transformation.
After a disastrous 13th season last year, The Real Housewives of New York City as we know it is being completely overhauled. Bravo is hoping to solve issues with the incompatible cast by splitting the show into two different series—one with an entirely new group of women and a separate “throwback” iteration featuring fan-favorite alumna from previous seasons.
The RHONY shake-up left many fans wondering about the fates of their faves. Well, we’re pleased to be the bearers of possible good news. The New York Post reports that Luann de Lesseps and Sonja Morgan may be returning to our TV screens sooner than expected.
It’s just a report at this point, but it’s one that we’re clinging our entire life’s happiness to.
Sources say that the delightfully zany BFFs, franchise mainstays since its start, will be teaming up for a new show in the vein of early aughts reality series The Simple Life. Starring Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, The Simple Life was undeniably one of the earliest foundational contributions to the rich cultural canon of reality TV. The 2003 series saw the uber-rich party girls trade their designer wardrobes and glossy Beverly Hills lifestyles for life on a farm. It was predictably hilarious, each episode packed with one-liners that are still screenshotted and circulated on Instagram today.
According to the Post’s report, the untitled project will follow de Lesseps and Morgan as they live together in a “Middle American town” and assimilate with its “regular folk” residents. It’s a perfect comedic formula for the glam New York City gals, who have entertained Bravo viewers since 2009 with their highbrow-lowbrow antics.
Both women affect a humorous haughtiness about their status as New York socialites—Sonja once had a meltdown about fellow Housewife Dorinda Medley deigning to touch a Morgan family heirloom and Luann unironically refers to herself as “the Countess,” for crying out loud. Yet, over the years, they have done sexy photoshoots with a toaster oven, drunkenly fallen into bushes, and brazenly flirted with men half their age. A particularly chaotic era of RHONY saw the pair bunking together in Morgan’s townhouse in the wake of de Lesseps’ divorce.
The show is still in development, sources involved with production told the Post, but it is expected to be greenlit and begin filming in July. We are personally waiting with bated breath for official confirmation. Few things spark as much joy as imagining Sonja flashing a ranch hand or Luann workshopping her cabaret act in a dive bar in Nebraska.
