Sister Wives has been slowly going off the rails for years now, but Season 19 has finally reached the point where it is becoming unwatchable. The premise of the series, following a polygamous family on their journey through life together, no longer works when three of Kody Brown‘s four wives have separated from the family patriarch.
This, after his clear favoritism towards his newest and youngest wife, Robyn Brown. With Kody spiraling out of control with anger, his three wives working to distance themselves from him as much as possible, and his one remaining wife losing respect for him over the way he is handling his relationship with his estranged children, there is too much conflict to cover up, and too little harmony to bring the family together to film comfortably.
For months there have been cancelation rumors circling the series, as it has fallen behind with filming and distributing seasons. The current season was filmed in 2022, and most of the drama is old news to dedicated viewers. Janelle Brown, Christine Brown, and Meri Brown have all separated from their once shared husband, and are living separate lives from him and, for the most part, from each other.
The series has managed to draw out conversation after conversation about the family split, and film the few family events where the ex-wives are forced to be near their now mutual ex-husband.
But as everyone is doing their best to allow each other to keep their reputations intact, there is nothing authentic being shared to draw the viewers in.
It is tiresome to watch Kody spiral as he angrily tries to spin the narrative in his favor and paint his ex-wives in a bad light. However, the network has not made an official announcement about the fate of the series, which could indicate they are mulling over options for their next steps.
This might mean a continuation of the current series following Robyn and Kody and their family, or independent spin-offs focusing on each branch of the family. Options remain open, but what is abundantly clear is that Sister Wives no longer functions the way it stands.
There Could Be A World With Multiple ‘Sister Wives’ Spin-Offs
Christine’s life with her new husband, David Woolley, has the potential for its own spin-off, since Christine is close to her young family members and seems happy settling into her life in Utah. TLC documented the couple’s wedding in a special episode that aired in January 2024, which indicates the network has an interest in following their new journey together.
And Janelle and Christine have made it clear that they are happy to continue filming scenes when family events call them together, or in their new capacity in each other’s lives as sisterly friends. But, Janelle recently invested in a large property in North Carolina, so it seems likely that much of her time for the foreseeable future will be allocated there.
This spin-off surrounding the two remaining wives on speaking terms with their children and grandchildren could take place simultaneously with another series dedicated to Kody and his life with Robyn in Flagstaff, Arizona.
While Kody has had a difficult time saving face with the viewers in light of his egregious behavior this season, there’s no saying what this new pressure on the Brown’s relationship will bring as they are forced to face reality as a monogamous married couple.
With Meri also relocating to Utah, there is potential there for her to join the cast in a new series as well, but it seems she wants to keep her distance from the other ex-wives for now, so there is still a lot that is up in the air with the family, let alone with the series.
There’s Also A Future Where The ‘Sister Wives’ Retire
The network could also consider a hard re-set, like they did with the series 19 Kids and Counting when the problematic patriarch and his eldest son became a PR nightmare.
Amid Josh Duggar‘s child pornography scandal, the production switched from featuring Jim Bob Duggar and the children he still had living with him, to focusing instead on the wholesome adult daughters who had married and left the Duggar home to start families of their own.
The Sister Wives producers could consider making a similar move by reorienting the focus of the series away from Kody and his wives, and towards the now adult children of the family who are now starting young families of their own.
There are options when it comes to the different ways Sister Wives could move forward. Production of multiple spin-off series simultaneously is a costly undertaking, especially when the producers have gotten used to cost-saving filming methods on the series, like having cast members film their own confessional interviews where a camera crew would be too costly.
Filming the family on their distinctly separate journeys would mean multiple crews, and the costs suddenly skyrocket from there. So, while the network mulls over how they wish to frame the fractured family moving forward, viewers will have to settle for remaining behind the times with a disjointed narrative on Sister Wives to tide them over.
