Los Angeles, California - With ABC still holding out on a season 10 renewal, could the future of Bachelor in Paradise be in trouble?

After a disappointing end to season 9, the Bachelor spin-off is at the center of fan speculation about its future.

On February 9, ABC finally delivered the long-awaited confirmation of The Golden Bachelorette, a spin-off of the franchise's first-ever senior-led season. The show is planned to debut this fall.

Just a few days later, the network announced that The Bachelorette would also be returning for a new season in the summer, with the lead expected to come from the contestant pool of Joey Graziadei's current season of The Bachelor.

Notably absent from the announcements was Paradise, which typically begins airing in August or September.

With The Golden Bachelorette taking the fall slot, could Bachelor in Paradise be postponed – or even canceled?

Former Bachelor host Chris Harrison first got the rumor mill turning earlier this month by claiming that the spin-off's future was in jeopardy.

"I was a little bummed to hear that Paradise has allegedly been postponed," he said on an episode of The Most Dramatic Podcast Ever.

"I think that is the official way they're saying it is. They're postponing it for a year or canceling it."

Of course, Harrison has not been involved with the franchise since he was fired in 2021, so his word is certainly to be taken with a grain of salt.

However, many of the arguments used to refute the claims note the fact that ABC typically waits long to renew Paradise as compared to its other shows. The latest season, which began in September 2023, wasn't announced until that May.

While that's certainly true, there's one big obstacle to Paradise returning in its fall slot: The Golden Bachelorette.

Last year, season 9 of Paradise and The Golden Bachelor's debut aired in a weekly double-feature, with The Golden Bachelor taking 8-9 PM EST and Paradise following from 9-11 PM EST.

Despite the bump in viewership for Gerry Turner's journey for love, ratings for Bachelor in Paradise continued to fall, potentially signalling the end of the franchise's once-beloved series.

Along with the clear viewership discrepancy, The Golden Bachelor may have inadvertently hurt Bachelor in Paradise's future with the mere schedule juxtaposition.

During the dual seasons, viewers would tune in to see a heartwarming – and at times, heartwrenching – journey for love later in life before enduring the vibe shift to end all vibe shifts as BIP kicked off.

The much more lighthearted Paradise has always been characterized by rampant miscommunication, indecision, and just general immaturity, but that became a far more glaring flaw when paired with The Golden Bachelor.

While the future remains unclear, the writing may be on the wall for ABC: in order to save Paradise, it needs to be kept separate from The Golden Bachelorette.

Still, it's entirely possible that the franchise has simply outgrown the Love Island-esque series, as made clear by the growing distaste for it.

Will this be the dawn of a new era for Bachelor Nation?