'UnREAL' Season 3 Sets Female Suitor for 'Everlasting'

Off the rails as Season 2 of Lifetime’s breakout UnREAL went, the initial attempt at exploring racial politics with an African-American Everlasting suitor was well-received. Season 3 has its own issues behind the scenes, but will again attempt to change the conversation of reality TV, this time switching genders with a female suitor.

Shiri Appleby and Constance Zimmer confirmed as much in a Facebook Live video chat (via TVLine), noting that Season 3 would feature a female Bachelorette-type with 25 men to choose from. In an interview with ET Online, Appleby joked that Rachel would certainly have her pick of love interests:

There will be 25 men on set, and Rachel will hook up with all of them. I think it will be great to add another strong female to the mix, someone to really battle with Quinn and Rachel … it will shake up the show and make everything feel really fresh.

Freshening things up is definitely on the docket for UnREAL Season 3, as the series added its third showrunner in as many years, setting executive producer Stacy Rukeyser to take over from Carol Barbee, who herself assumed the position from series creator Marti Noxon. UnREAL has a world of work ahead to reclaim its pedigree, as our own Britt Hayes said of the second run:

Season 2 was just plain painful, as the show transformed into an ouroboros of melodrama, blatantly manufacturing its shocking twists and ultimately becoming the very thing it originally set out to deconstruct: An exploitative feat of narrative engineering.

We’ll see what else irons out in Season 3, but will another shakeup in perspective bring back that UnREAL magic?