The Valley launched last year as a Vanderpump Rules spin-off, following the lives of alum Jax Taylor, Brittany Cartwright and Kristen Doute as they settled down in the suburbs. This summer, though, as the show returns, it carries the Vanderpump torch solo — with the original show having come to an end and a reboot in the works with an all-new cast.
There has been some assumption among fans that the Vanderpump cast might migrate over to The Valley, and indeed Lala Kent, Tom Schwartz, Scheana Shay and Brock Davies make appearances in season two. But when it comes to two casts merging more permanently, there are some mixed thoughts.
Taylor, who was one of the leads of Vanderpump before exiting in 2020, said he hopes “some of them, not all of them” make their way onto The Valley, and in particular he wants Schwartz as a more central cast member.
“Obviously he’s my best friend so of course I want my best friend on the show with me,” he told The Hollywood Reporter at the show’s L.A. premiere on Thursday. “I’ll do whatever I can to get him over here. He fits right in with everybody. Tom and I are the only ones that are single, so now it’s like I need another single guy on the show.”
Janet Caperna and Michelle Saniei also endorse Kent and Shay coming onto the show permanently, as they are close friends off camera and have kids around the same age. Caperna’s husband Jason added, “Without them, we’re all hanging out and it’s like, ‘You guys have to go away for a while until cameras are down then come back,’ so we may as well just keep them around.”
Some of the cast members are a little less enthusiastic about welcoming the Vanderpump crew, though, as Danny Booko admitted, “I don’t know how far you can go with it. We already have a very big group and I think we definitely hold our own. So throwing maybe one or two in the mix is fine, but I don’t think any more than that needs to be done.”
Jasmine Goode added, “I don’t think we need anyone from Vanderpump Rules to come over; we are a huge cast and you’ll see this season, we don’t need any more going on. But I will say Scheana is somebody who is just naturally part of this friend group so if she does come over it would make sense for her — anybody else I’m not really sure. Maybe Schwartz, but the rest of the Vanderpump people I don’t see it fitting.”
Cast changes aside, this season sees some big moves for the group, including Doute getting engaged to Luke Broderick and both Taylor and Cartwright and Saniei and Jesse Lally splitting up. Taylor was also in rehab at the end of last year for cocaine and alcohol addiction.
“That’s why you know this show is very real. The last thing in the entire world is what I want you guys to see these next two weeks,” Taylor said of the start of season two. “I’m utterly, utterly ashamed of the person that I was a year ago; keep in mind it was a year ago, things have changed. I watched the first episodes and it was really hard. It was tough, it was very emotional because I just don’t know who that person is and I was just very disgusted with myself.”
For her part, Cartwright said, “Going into season two was extremely hard because obviously a lot was going on between Jax and I. But compared to now I feel like I’m in such a better place — it’s been a while so I feel like I’ve gained so much strength and resilience.”
Booko summed up this season as “rainbows and butterflies, blooming of flowers, it was just good vibes only — no, complete opposite. There was some of that, with Luke and Kristen’s engagement, but other than that it was quite chaotic. It was a dumpster fire, let’s just be honest.”
The Valley season two premieres Tuesday on Bravo.