The Teen Mom franchise has been in trouble for years, and now, it looks as though many of the cast members who gained fame while they were still in high school will soon be hitting the unemployment line.
As you may know, MTV and other networks released their annual lists of canceled and renewed shows this week.
MTV has not yet revealed the fates of the various Teen Mom shows, a fact that’s led many to the conclusion that the network is finally ready to pull the plug on its longest-running franchise.
But according to a new report from The Ashley’s Reality Roundup, that’s not quite the case.
An insider says that production on Teen Mom: The Next Chapter Season 1B has already begun, and despite reports that Amber Portwood had previously been fired, it seems the entire cast has resumed filming.
“It took months for everyone to come to an agreement on the terms [of Amber coming back],” says the source,.
“Amber was getting really frustrated because she and MTV couldn’t get on the same page, but they finally agreed to terms everyone was happy with. But at no time did Amber actually quit or officially get fired.”
In the end, Amber wound up joining Maci Bookout, Briana DeJesus, Jade Cline, Catelynn Lowell, Leah Messer, Ashley Jones and Cheyenne Floyd in returning to shoot a second half of Next Chapter‘s first season.
(Yes, it’s the terminology is all very confusing.)
And it seems that the vets will be joined by a couple of newcomers … sort of:
“Kayla Sessler and Kiaya Elliott will both be featured, although Kiaya only very briefly. They were not made actual cast members though,” one production source tells The Ashley.
“Kayla’s story will somehow be incorporated into another girl’s story somehow.”
As for the fact that the show hasn’t been officially picked up Next Chapter for a second season, the source attributes the delay to shakeups within MTV and its parent company.
In fact, it seems that filming for Teen Mom: The Next Chapter Season 1B is momentarily on hold as the company sorts through these changes.
“Basically the entire [casting] department for Paramount [Plus] was let go,” says a source.
“Very high-ranking casting agents lost their jobs in the massive cuts that happened at the network a week or so ago, and all filming has been halted.
“But it’s very odd that the show hasn’t been picked up by now,” the insider concedes.
As for the rest of the franchise, the outlook is not so sunny.
For starters, the pseudo-series Teen Mom: Girls’ Night In — in which cast members watch and comment on recent episodes of the show — is officially toast.
“The ratings were bad, it was expensive to film because they had to go to each location and as of right now there are no plans that anyone’s heard to bring it back,” the production source tells The Ashley.
Teen Mom: Family Reunion also appears to have come to an end.
“The network has not greenlit producers to begin searching for a location to film a new season, or to begin looking at casting,” the production source said.
“We are hearing it’s looking very bad for [Teen Mom Family Reunion].”
Add that to the fact that Teen Mom: Young and Pregnant was canceled in March, and the future of the franchise is looking very bleak indeed.
So Amber and company won’t be forced to get real jobs just yet, but they may want to start looking!
Teen Mom Franchise Shaken Up By Major Cancelations: Are ANY of the Shows Returning to MTV? was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.