The center of gravity inside Hulu’s MomTok universe has moved. Jeff Jenkins, the producer who built The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives into a breakout reality franchise, is now putting his weight behind Whitney Leavitt. A new, untitled Hulu reality series starring and produced by Leavitt has been greenlit, with Jenkins’ production company attached. The move lands roughly six months after Leavitt walked away from the main show and less than two months after Taylor Frankie Paul, the series’ original lightning rod, announced she was done with it too. The shift is not just a casting change. It is a signal about who Hulu and Jenkins believe can carry the MomTok brand forward.
How MomTok Became a Hulu Hit
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives debuted on September 6, 2024, and quickly became Hulu’s most-watched unscripted season premiere of that year. The show follows a group of Utah-based TikTok influencers known as “MomTok,” a loose network of Mormon mom creators whose picture-perfect online image cracked open in 2022 when Taylor Frankie Paul went public about “soft-swinging” with other couples in the group. The scandal turned the friend circle into a television product, and the series tracked the fallout: broken trust, shifting alliances, and the awkward space between religious expectations and social media fame.
Jeff Jenkins, through Jeff Jenkins Productions, served as an executive producer from the start, alongside Russell Jay-Staglik, Andrea Metz, and others. The show’s first season ran for eight episodes. A second season followed on May 15, 2025, and later expanded with a reunion special. By the time Season 5 arrived in September 2026, the franchise had already become a multi-show universe for Hulu, with a West Coast spin-off in production and a major episode renewal on the table.
Taylor Frankie Paul’s Exit Leaves a Gap at the Top
Taylor Frankie Paul was never a background character. Her 2022 revelation launched the entire MomTok story, and the show’s early seasons framed her as both a pariah and a ratings engine. That centrality came with heavy personal turbulence. A domestic incident involving an ex-partner led to legal scrutiny, and a planned season of The Bachelorette featuring Paul was suspended. Production on The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives was also paused at points because of her legal issues.
On September 21, 2026, Paul posted a statement on Instagram saying she no longer wished to move forward with the series. The message, reported by Deadline, was blunt.
“My gratitude goes to all the networks that supported me throughout this and gave me the chance to return. However, I don’t desire to move forward like this,” Paul wrote. “Some of the girls know what I’ve been through and then to turn and collectively pile on with their ‘statements’ knowing there has been ongoing abuse through the system the last 8 months on top of what I’ve endured”.
Paul also said she was “relieved to be out”. Her departure came just a week after reports that she was set to return for Season 6 of the Jeff Jenkins-produced show. Cast member Mikayla Matthews had already said she would not continue, writing on Instagram Stories that she was leaving because she was told “a certain person was coming back”. Mayci Neeley and Layla Taylor also signaled uncertainty about their futures on the series. The main show suddenly looked unstable at the exact moment Hulu was expanding it.
Whitney Leavitt’s Exit Was a Career Move, Not a Retreat
Whitney Leavitt’s departure from The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives came earlier, and it followed a different script. Leavitt announced her exit in May 2026 during her final performance as Roxie Hart in the Broadway musical Chicago. She had been with the Hulu series since its September 2024 premiere and was one of its most recognizable personalities, partly because of conflicts with other cast members during Season 1.
Leavitt did not leave the spotlight. She competed on Season 34 of Dancing with the Stars and finished sixth alongside Mark Ballas. She also made her feature film debut in the holiday romantic comedy All for Love and executive produced it through her company, Leavitt Media House. In a March interview with The Hollywood Reporter, she framed the exit as a beginning rather than an ending.
“This is just the beginning. It feels like this is just the beginning of something that I’ve wanted to do and I’ve been trying to do for years,” Leavitt said. “I couldn’t be more grateful. I feel like I’m just now on the ladder, and I’m just going to slowly start climbing it”.
That climb now has a Hulu show underneath it.
Jeff Jenkins Bets on Whitney Leavitt
Deadline broke the news on November 4, 2026: Hulu has greenlit an untitled reality series starring and produced by Whitney Leavitt. The show comes from Jeff Jenkins Productions, 3BMG, and Leavitt Media House. The official logline describes the series as following “firebrand Whitney Leavitt and her family as they navigate her newfound fame and career ambitions while always putting family first”.
Leavitt will executive produce alongside her husband, Conner Leavitt, as well as Jeff Jenkins, Russell Jay-Staglik, Amanda Weinstein, Brandon Beck, Ross Weintraub, and Reinout Oerlemans. Hulu has not announced a title or a release date yet.
Leavitt confirmed the news on Instagram with a joint post featuring the Get Real Hulu account. The caption was short.
“See you soon,” she wrote, alongside a video that collected fan speculation about a possible solo series.
The announcement formalized what had been rumored for months. In May 2026, Leavitt had already teased the idea on social media, and fan comments at the time leaned heavily in her favor. One comment read, “Yesss! I’ll watch. I’m over the SLOMW lol.” Another said, “Soooo pumped for this”. Leavitt responded to a fan who wrote “Giving the people what we really want” with a winky-face emoji.
What the New Show Means for the Main Series
Whitney Leavitt will not appear in future seasons of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. She was part of Season 5, which premiered on September 10, 2026, but the show was renewed for 20 additional episodes to be split across Seasons 6 and 7, and Leavitt is not part of that plan. The main series is still moving forward without both Leavitt and Taylor Frankie Paul, its two most prominent original cast members.
Hulu is filling the space with volume. The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives: Orange County premieres on November 12, 2026, with all 10 episodes arriving at once on Hulu in the U.S. and on Disney+ internationally. The spin-off stars original cast member Jen Affleck alongside McCall DaPron, Bobbi Althoff, Aspyn Ovard, Avery Woods, Salomé Andrea, Ashleigh Pease, and Madison Bontempo. Jeff Jenkins Productions also produces that series.
The franchise is no longer built around one central friendship group. It is becoming a portfolio of MomTok-adjacent shows, each with a different cast and a different geographic anchor. Jenkins is not replacing Taylor Frankie Paul with Whitney Leavitt inside the same show. He is giving Leavitt a separate lane while the original series reshapes itself without her.
Why Jenkins Is Making the Shift
The business logic is straightforward. Whitney Leavitt has spent the past year building a résumé that stretches beyond the Utah influencer bubble. She moved to New York for her Chicago run, stayed there for film work, and booked a role in Peacock’s The Traitors for its upcoming season. She also has a Netflix holiday romantic comedy, All for Christmas, arriving on November 24, 2026, and a return to Broadway in the jukebox musical Just in Time starting December 1, 2026.
Conner Leavitt, her husband, competed on Season 35 of Dancing with the Stars, which gave the couple a second Disney-facing television footprint. A Leavitt family reality show fits a pattern that was already forming across multiple platforms.
Jeff Jenkins has produced Bling Empire, The McBee Dynasty, and My Unorthodox Life, among other unscripted titles. His company specializes in building shows around strong personalities with clear social media traction. Leavitt has that traction, plus a Broadway credit, a Dancing with the Stars run, and a film debut. The new show is not a consolation prize for leaving the main series. It is a bet that her name can draw an audience on its own.
The Fan Conversation Around the Power Shift
Reaction to the Leavitt news has been mixed but active. Deadline’s comment section, which is not a scientific sample but does reflect how engaged reality TV viewers respond to casting moves, carried skepticism alongside support. One commenter wrote that Taylor Frankie Paul “was and is a great reality tv star” and argued that the MomTok cast works as a group rather than as solo acts. Another simply said, “I liked her from the start” about Leavitt.
Leavitt’s own Instagram announcement leaned into the speculation cycle. The video she posted with Hulu collected screenshots of fans predicting a solo show, turning the rumor mill into part of the marketing. The “See you soon” caption kept the project in teaser mode, with no title or date attached.
Taylor Frankie Paul’s Side of the Shift
Taylor Frankie Paul has not announced a new television project since leaving The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. Her exit statement focused on her treatment by castmates and the toll of ongoing public scrutiny, not on future plans. The suspended Bachelorette season remains unresolved, and her legal issues have been a persistent backdrop to the MomTok story.
Her departure does not erase her from the franchise’s history. The show’s opening season was built on the fallout from her 2022 revelation, and her presence shaped the group dynamic for five seasons. The power shift is not a claim that Paul is irrelevant. It is a statement that Hulu and Jenkins are choosing to invest in a different cast member at this moment.
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Key Dates and Details to Know
- November 12, 2026: The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives: Orange County premieres with all 10 episodes on Hulu in the U.S. and Disney+ internationally.
- November 24, 2026: Whitney Leavitt’s Netflix holiday romantic comedy All for Christmas releases.
- December 1, 2026: Leavitt returns to Broadway in Just in Time.
- Untitled Whitney Leavitt Hulu series: Greenlit, no title or release date announced; produced by Jeff Jenkins Productions, 3BMG, and Leavitt Media House.
- Main series renewal: 20 additional episodes ordered, split across Seasons 6 and 7; Leavitt is not returning.
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