Peter Kraus still in contention for future The Bachelor seasons

If you are still (understandably) disappointed that Peter Kraus is not The Bachelor this year, there is reason for hope. Just like Arie Luyendyk Jr. was chosen for the role this year after a long layoff between this and his previous season of The Bachelorette, there is also a chance that we could see Peter down the road as the star of a different season. He seems to be moving on for now, but never say never, right? It certainly wouldn’t feel appropriate for anyone to discount the possibility of seeing him down the road just because he and ABC didn’t come to an agreement on it now.

So why not just go ahead and pick him this season? Well, speaking to Entertainment Tonight Robert Mills, ABC’s Senior Vice President of Alternative Series, Specials & Late-Night Programming, has a pretty reasonable explanation for what happened here:

“Peter was absolutely in discussion. He sort of alluded to that as well. I think at this point in his life, the breakup with Rachel was still very raw. Sometimes you move on very quickly, sometimes you don’t. I think that, for him, there were still residual feelings there, and it was a very real breakup. They all are, but this was tough. I think the finale, when that aired and everything after that was also hard on Peter. I think he just didn’t know. I think Peter probably would have done it and been an amazing Bachelor, but I also don’t know if he, himself, knew if this was the time when he was ready to really do this 100 percent. I think we’ll always be in touch with Peter, and there might be a time… It might be a year from now, when it’s better for him. It was all about timing. If Arie wasn’t ready, we would have looked at him, but we want it to feel right. Peter was an incredible fan favorite, which I think was great, but I also think the double-edged sword with that is, if it’s not the season that the fans want, which, you know, might have been if Peter might not have been ready to commit 100 percent, that’s also disappointing, and it would have been disappointing for Peter too.”

Do we still think ABC could have strained themselves more and picked Peter for the role? Absolutely, but there was no real reason for them to force it if the pieces weren’t aligning. We do think Mills’ comments about expectations is a good one, given that there have been some popular Bachelor choices at the time (see Juan Pablo Galavis) who weren’t popular when their season aired. We don’t foresee Peter being anything like Juan Pablo, but we’re just trying to say that there is a difference sometimes between being popular and being right. We did want Peter to be The Bachelor this season, but guess what? We would love to see him in the role next year, and maybe having a year in between would give him perspective and actually be good for him. It gets him more out into the real world again as opposed to just dating people associated with the franchise.

Do you want to see Peter Kraus as the Bachelor next year?

Let us know in the comments! Meanwhile, be sure to also check out our recent CarterMatt feature on the subject of whether or not ABC should look at casting fresh faces for future seasons of the franchise. (Photo: ABC.)