Entertainment

The Future Of 'Sister Wives' Is Still Uncertain

by Mishal Ali Zafar

Season 13 of Sister Wives just ended, and fans are already looking to TLC for news on a new season. The series explores the unconventional life of Kody Brown and his four sister wives — Meri, Christine, Robyn and Janelle. But because the season finale ended with the family on the brink of a major transition, fans are anxiously wondering, when will the Sister Wives return?

Unfortunately, as of now, TLC hasn’t announced a confirmation for Season 14, let alone a premiere date. The network will likely make a decision based on this past season’s viewership numbers, which haven’t been terrific in the last few years. In 2018, a source close to the show told In Touch that the network considered cancelling the series due to its dwindling ratings, but Kody saved the day by taking a salary cut. “So Kody told them he’d be willing to have the network slash his family’s pay from $180,000 for each adult to $180,000 total if it meant they could make Season 12,” the source told the outlet. “He put everything on the line to convince them it could still work.”

Kody’s plan worked well enough to get him to Season 13, but it’s hard to predict whether or not TLC will keep the show around. This past season was filmed over a year ago, and since then, there haven’t been any reports of cameras following them around in their new hometown of Flagstaff. In an interview with Us Weekly, Kody admitted that he would love to keep filming for more seasons, but that the show’s future rested heavily on ratings.

“Us being public and being on film is all up to the viewers,” he told the outlet. “The reason that we've kept doing it for so long was because we still feel like the message isn't being projected enough.” The message he’s referring to has to do with polygamy, which is still outlawed and looked down upon in much of the country. Kody told Us Weekly that he just wants people to see that just like his own family, there are “normal, quality, functional, plural families” out there.

Season 13 saw the Brown family making some of the biggest decisions of their life. The family uprooted their life in Las Vegas and moved to Flagstaff, and Kody hinted that he may want to run for office in Utah where he could try to change polygamy laws. “I figure, if I could go and run for office there, I might be able to change the world, or change our world,” he said in a February episode. “If I can’t bully the people in the legislature by getting in to the legislature, then what can I do? — I might be suffering delusions of grandeur. I wanted to go, I wanted to run for office, I wanted to get control of my destiny.”

While Kody tries to reign in his destiny, there’s still no word on the fate of his show. I know that fans of Sister Wives are hoping to see the Brown family in action again, but until TLC makes an announcement, they’ll have to look to the family’s social media for updates.