90 Day Fiancé: Why HEA Season 7 Is Probably The Next Franchise Show to Air
Fans are eager to find out what the next 90 Day Fiancé franchise show after 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days will be, and there are several reasons why another season of 90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After? is likely on the way. It’s not necessarily what fans want, but it’s probably what they’re gonna get. In a lot of ways, Happily Ever After? is an easy spin-off for TLC to film, and viewers will probably be seeing more of the show before another season of the franchise’s core series 90 Day Fiancé.
There are essentially four “main” series in the franchise—90 Day Fiancé, Happily Ever After?, Before the 90 Days, and The Other Way. Those four shows always have the most episodes and seem to be more of a priority for TLC. There are only a few episodes left in Before the 90 Days season 5, and it’s surprising that there has been no official announcement about the series that will premiere after it. Of all the main franchise shows, the next one will probably be either 90 Day Fiancé or Happily Ever After?, and things aren’t looking good for the OG series.
It’s because of COVID-19 that fans are unlikely to get 90 Day Fiancé season 9 next month. The borders to many countries have been closed since early 2020, and a lot of them have just recently begun to open up again. The pandemic has also slowed the visa process to a crawl, which is a major impediment to filming 90 Day Fiancé. For most federal agencies, paperwork is completely backed up, and the office of immigration is no different. The network may have decided to hold off starting production on season 9 until there’s more certainty that the American cast members’ foreign partners can actually get to the U.S.
Fortunately for TLC, most of these pandemic problems do not apply to Happily Ever After? On the spin-off, both halves of the featured couples are already in America, so the pandemic itself is less of a roadblock. All the couples have also already worked with TLC and its film crews before. They know what the deal is and how the show works, so there's no awkward period where they’re adjusting to being filmed. The spin-off also seems to contain a lot of manufactured storylines, which is preferable to the network even if it isn’t for fans. Staged storylines are less unpredictable for production, and therefore easier to film, though they’re much less interesting for viewers.
There’s been no official word on what the next major 90 Day Fiancé franchise show will be, but it certainly seems like Happily Ever After? is the most likely to be the next to air. Due to boredom with certain franchise cast members, the spin-off isn’t the most popular core series, so it’s not exactly what fans were hoping for. However, it would make sense given the external limitations facing production, and it’s probably what viewers will see next.