As Vanderpump Rules Nears the End of Its Season, Can the Reboot Sustain Itself? 

Rebooting Vanderpump Rules was always going to be a tall task, but it has been done.

Last Tuesday, the final episode of season 12 aired, leaving two more reunion episodes airing on Bravo this and next Tuesday. The new cast has officially completed their first full installment, and executive producer Alex Baskin is considering the revival a success.

“This was a massive undertaking,” Baskin admits to The Hollywood Reporter about putting new faces at the forefront of Bravo’s hit series. “We absolutely consider it a success.”

The road to the reboot is no secret, but goes as follows: Vanderpump Rules ran 11 seasons with the (mostly) same original cast, then a cheating scandal between Ariana Madix and Tom Sandoval irrevocably split the group in half — between wanting to continue filming with all cast members to maintain their show or siding with Madix in setting clear boundaries of not crossing paths with Sandoval.

But now, the reboot’s inaugural year is over. If the series gets renewed for a 13th season (with reports indicating that’s the case), it may be time to drop the word “reboot” and start accepting this new era, or extension, of the franchise.

Or not — that’s up to viewers. But it appears the Bravo audience is still tuning in.

On average, Vanderpump Rules season 12 has grown over eight times from live and same day viewing to 35-day total viewers (across platforms through 35 days and based on data for the first four episodes). With Bravo and its luminaries sharing nothing but positive indicators, it really appears the new crop is here to stay.

Below, Baskin chatted with THR ahead of the Vanderpump Rules season 12 reunion to break down the ins and outs of the reboot — like how they differ from the original cast, what he thought when one newbie got into it with pioneering star Katie Maloney, why he believes the new SURvers have “less pressure” on them heading into a potential 13th season and why now, with hindsight, he’s ultimately pleased with the decision to reboot Vanderpump Rules.

***

Now that the full reboot season of Vanderpump Rules is out, does the network and production consider it a success?

We’re all really excited, so we absolutely consider it a success. This was a massive undertaking. We feel like we laid the foundation for the next generation of the series, and we’re really excited about what we’ve done, but more than that, what we think is to come.

I’ve seen reports that the show has already been renewed. Do you care to comment on those reports?

That’s a little premature. We are hopeful, but that is not official news. But it was funny to see the reaction that it elicited.

When we talked about The Valley at the end of season two, you mentioned that this is the Gen Z of Vanderpump Rules. One moment that pointed to this was the OnlyFans storyline. Were there any other moments that stood out to you that were like, This really is a brand new group and show?

Definitely with OnlyFans. Obviously, we covered that [from the] beginning of the first episode, because I think the way that Gen Z views it is actually kind of empowering. Sexuality in general, the attitude toward it, is very Gen Z. Shayne, his openness with his relationships and discussions of non-monogamy are also very much, to me, a counterpoint to the way that we’re used to in some of the shows. Venus’ story is the same thing. There are a lot of stories you didn’t see in prior generations, because I think they weren’t at the points of discussion that they are now.

Another element that has impacted this cast is social media. As the season was airing, Audrey and Angelica got into it online alongside the cousins. As a producer, how do you navigate allowing them to work through their issues so publicly?

In our ideal world, social media wouldn’t become a sideshow. But, especially these days with that generation, I don’t think it’s wholly realistic to expect that they’re not going to comment as the show is airing. [It’s] very difficult to control. Once one cast member offers up their POV, that’s going to be challenged and responded to. It becomes almost a part of the viewing experience. It’s like the second screen you see alongside the show itself.Long gone are the days where the show just existed on its own and in a vacuum.

As a viewer, it feels very evident that half the cast was actually working at SUR before you cast the reboot, and then half was cast and started working at SUR for the show. Shayne naturally fit given his connection to Marcus, but can you talk about why specifically Jason and Chris were brought in, and did you anticipate that their past reality TV experience would draw backlash?

We were careful not to cast too much into the show. We really wanted to tap into what was already in existence at SUR. That’s the foundation of the show. SUR itself was looking to add to the server ranks, and we became a part of that, just like we had met with the staff in the first place. Shayne, to your point, didn’t end up working there, and we were perfectly happy to have him come in as Marcus’ friend who was already connected to the group.

In terms of the backlash on Chris and Jason, I totally understand it. I wouldn’t say we were completely surprised. We also didn’t shy away from it and covered it directly on the show. At this point in time, it would be very difficult if you are looking to tell the stories of a group of young people, especially at a place like SUR — which is obviously right in the center of the entertainment world, just like the original group of servers who were all showbiz hopefuls and you would find the same thing. That just looks different this time.

Before, that meant you had people who were traditionally going out for acting jobs, modeling to make ends meet. These days, people [have] a presence on social media and also go on reality shows. The difference is those other shows [Chris and Jason did] were an effort for them to build out their social media. This is a commitment to open up your entire life and really work at the restaurant. I would emphasize that everyone there, with the exception of Shayne, really works at the restaurant. They did before we started filming, they did during filming and they still do today.

That was another question I was going to ask: Do they all still actually work at SUR?

Yes, they genuinely do. That’s important to us. Still to this day, if you go into SUR, you’re very likely to see whoever has a shift there.

What did you think about the controversy that ensued when Chris said he didn’t know who Katie Maloney was?

So funny to me, and kind of wild all the way around. Katie had called the new version of it cheap, so I think there was a little bit of a Mariah Carey response to that. I found the whole thing amusing. Katie [is] super important to the legacy of the show, and I think the new group honors a legacy in the first place just by continuing to do the show.

Putting aside that little back and forth, they are very aware of the shoes they have to fill. And we’ve been clear the entire time that we’re not trying to do a carbon copy. You can’t do that. That show was really great. We’re getting back to some of those core principles, which is a group of people who work together and experience their ‘20s together. But none of us is here without the original group, and I think this cast knows that, in spite of a back and forth that I found more amusing than anything.

I know there’s no confirmation on a potential season 13, but if the show moves forward, do you think this full cast will come back?

I think that if we do it, I don’t imagine this cast would be seismically different. I would imagine it would largely look the same, and then we would figure out what else that means.

Do you worry there will be even more pressure on a sophomore season? Bravo has rebooted shows in the past [that haven’t proven sustainable] — the main one that stands out is The Real Housewives of New York.

I actually think there’s less pressure. I thought that this season, we really had all eyes on us. This show’s advantage was also its curse, which was its name. That’s a very powerful piece of IP, and if that meant that there were comparisons to the original. The challenge was that people were not even fairly comparing this to [the] original, but comparing this to their memory of the original. People don’t remember that they were frustrated by the end of season 11, where it was a cast that was torn asunder, and it wasn’t a whole group.

Starting in a potential season 13, I think the audience that’s watching will be watching for the sake of this show, and not watching to compare it to their nostalgic memory of the original. And then, it has to be good. But I don’t think there’s quite as much baggage as there is when you’re getting out of the gate.

The success of Vanderpump Rules has spawned The Valley and The Valley: Persian Style. How do you see the Vanderpump-Valley universe continuing to grow at Bravo?

I’m super excited to see where it naturally goes. The Valley: Persian Style arose out of my interviewing [Mercedes] MJ [Javid] on my podcast. I fell in love with her and thought, Why don’t we do the same thing that we did with The Valley? It’s a great extension of The Valley because it fits within that umbrella. Obviously they’re literally in the Valley, but it’s also a particular life stage. People have really embraced it. There’s obviously a deep love for MJ, Reza [Farahan] and [Golnesa] GG [Gharachedaghi], and then the new group which was completely put together by them.

Where there are those other opportunities to do something similar, then we would do that. I’m excited about other iterations that might come up.

A big conversation that emerged with the Vanderpump Rules reboot was, “Did they think about potentially doing it in Vegas with Lisa’s other restaurants?” Has that conversation come up?

We’ve talked about that in passing. I’m not sure it exists in the same form. There are reasons it makes sense, but this one really announced itself to us. Obviously, SUR itself is so iconic, and we had a back alley that needed to be used again.

The Valley is about to return for season three. At the end of last season, they left on a rough note. Will the atmosphere for this upcoming season of The Valley feel lighter?

It is so different, and it feels really good. You still get all of the ingredients and it’s still dramatic, but it is not as dark as it was last season. They’re not at that point in their lives. We felt like we had to cover that last season, and we would have been doing a disservice to the story, to cast members who were living through what they experienced, if we didn’t. But fortunately, for them and then also for the show, that’s not where they are now. It’s dramatic, and there are splinters in the friend group. It’s a much sunnier ride.

How did having Lala and Tom Schwartz on the upcoming season impact the cast dynamics?

Really great. They fit in; it’s their group of friends anyway, so all of that was very natural. I think you see different versions of them as well. You haven’t seen Lala for a while in a series [since Vanderpump Rules season 11,] and she was in a very different point, she wasn’t yet a mother for the second time. And Schwartz, [it’s] always fun to see him.

Are you ultimately happy with the decision to reboot Vanderpump Rules, and how do you see the series moving forward?

I am happy with it. I’ve said before that we had considered doing what would have been a final season with the OGs, and we were considering that parallel to doing the reboot and ultimately decided not because we just didn’t think it was necessary. I think that was the right decision. I really [am] not sure what the reason for that would have been down the line, and we thought it was a great coda to the series, until it wasn’t, then there wasn’t more story to tell.

When we found a group that we really believed in and moved forward with, we knew that we were doing something that would be heavily scrutinized, and we had to make the announcement that the OGs were not returning alongside announcing that we were doing the new one. All we could do was make a show that we believed in, and we did that. We think that it is true to the core principles of the original but also feels different. Part of that is the Gen Z of it all, and it’s also just a completely different group of people. It isn’t composed of archetypes from the original, because, and I say this out of respect to the original, but those were one of a kind — both cast members and also relationships. Given the tall order we took on, we’re very pleased.

***

Part one of the season 12 of Vanderpump Rules reunion drops Tuesday at 9 p.m. on Bravo, and streams the next day on Peacock.