Could UnREAL season 4 take on Bachelor in Paradise in some form?

When UnREAL season 3 finally premieres on Lifetime in the new year, it will be mixing things up. After presenting a satire on The Bachelor the first two seasons, we’re going to be seeing more of The Bachelorette. Caitlin Fitzgerald of Masters of Sex is playing the new lead for the show-within-a-show Everlasting, which will probably prove just as chaotic as when we saw Freddie Stroma and BJ Britt in that role the first time seasons.

The third season is a chance for a creative revamp, and an opportunity to do something different after a polarizing and chaotic season 2. Given that Lifetime already renewed the show for a season 4, there’s a chance that UnREAL could do something rather different once more. Could the series actually take on a version of Bachelor in Paradise, given everything that happened this summer with the investigation into an incident on location? It’s certainly possible, and this is something that Shiri Appleby discussed in an interview with Entertainment Tonight while praising new showrunner Stacy Rukeyser and promoting her new movie Lemon:

“[Rukeyser] really stabilized the show. She was really the backbone of the first season and didn’t necessarily get the limelight of that. And then second [season] we had a different showrunner. So, she was really given the power and the strength in the third season, and she really created a solid environment. There was cohesive storytelling, and she was present. Those were the things the show was really needing. I think she did a really excellent job in the fact that we got a fourth season already. We go back into production in mid-October and we’ll finish shooting most likely before the third season airs. It’ll be interesting to see what they create for the fourth season and if they make any commentary on what happened on Bachelor in Paradise.”

Everything still appears to be on the table for the fourth season, but there is something to consider here from the vantage point of timing. Remember that season 4 may not air until 2019 if Lifetime keeps the new winter schedule — by that point, it will have been almost a year and a half in between this air date and when the Bachelor in Paradise allegations first started to come out. This is why UnREAL is better going in their own direction with dramatic twists and storylines; maybe at times they are inspired by things we see on reality TV, but they feel more like hypothetical things that could happen as a result of all of the craziness that some of these contestants are thrown into during their time on the show.

Rest assured, we’ll have more news on UnREAL as we get closer to that premiere date — including the female suitor and some of the guys out to win her heart.

Oh, and if you missed it…

We recommend heading over here if you do want to read some additional news right now regarding the series and its season 4 renewal. (Photo: Bravo.)