The restaurant mogul and reality star says the new cast will have a “different energy” and the popular series will return to its original premise.
Lisa Vanderpump has a message for the diehard Vanderpump Rules fans.
As fans have struggled to grapple with the news that their beloved cast of 11 years will not be returning for Season 12, Vanderpump is assuring viewers all will be okay.
“I think everything we do is going to have a different energy to it,” the SUR owner told E! News at the grand opening of her new restaurant Pinky’s by Vanderpump at Flamingo Las Vegas.
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The 64-year-old stressed that she is not going to compare the two casts and will be bringing the show back to the original premise.
“Not gonna try and compete with the old Vanderpump Rules. It’s just gonna be totally different there. Still we’ll go back to the premise of the complications of running a restaurant and the staff in it. And that always has a story to tell,” the restaurant owner added.
She called the show’s 11 years of filming with the OG cast — which included Scheana Shay, Lala Kent, Katie Maloney and more — “a wonderful experience.”
“It was time to do something different. Stories were kind of closing up a little bit. I think people, they weren’t that shocked that we decided to do this now,” Vanderpump added.
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Bravo made the announcement last month, announcing that Vanderpump Rules had been renewed for Season 12, but will have a complete cast reboot.
While Vanderpump Rules was hugely popular on Bravo since its premiere, things took a turn following Tom Sandoval’s affair with Rachel Leviss while he was with Ariana Madix, when the cameras picked up immediately to document season 11. While the show saw huge ratings the season prior, the episodes that followed were met with mixed reactions and ultimately the show was put on pause amid major cast tension.
The network says the show will now still feature Vanderpump however, “and a new group of close-knit SUR-vers.” Sources say Scheana Shay, Lala Kent, Brock Davies and Tom Schwartz will appear on spinoff The Valley next season, while they could possibly appear on Vanderpump Rules and elsewhere in the Bravoverse going forward.
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Katie Maloney recently opened up about the major cast announcement.
During an episode of her Disrespectfully podcast last week, the Vanderpump OG said that she was planning her exit from the long-running reality series long before Bravo announced its plans for a cast overhaul ahead of Season 12.
“I didn’t plan on returning,” Maloney said Wednesday. “I had made a decision months ago after this past season. I needed to move on with my life.”
Maloney said she made the decision before Vanderpump Rules was “put on pause,” adding, “I had talked to our producers about it and I told them my decision on that. I felt personally ready to move on from the show. I felt like my life and where I was at was moving in a different direction. Mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually, I was prepared to move on from the show.”
Maloney, who has been on the show since it premiered in 2013, told her listeners she was ready for something new after more than a decade on the show.
As for the future of the rest of the cast, including James Kennedy, Tom Sandoval and others, that remains unclear.
