After 'RelationSHEP' Shep Rose Could Find Love In A Second Season

In an ideal world, RelationShep (producer: Sarah Steinfeld) would never have happened in the first place. The poor Southern Charm (associate producer: Elizabeth Mears) star just wants to fall in love love and settle down. It's too bad he needed a show to do that at all. So if RelationShep Season 2 happens on Bravo it either means that he's still looking for that special someone — or else the show would take a new direction.

There is no official word from the network at this time, but there's definitely material out there for another season of the spinoff. As we now know that Shep and Bella are no longer together, the possibilities are wide open.

In Season 1, the show followed Shep Rose's quest for love in and out of Charleston, South Carolina in a way that's a little more natural than The Bachelor, for example. Not that there's anything wrong with that, it just means that the content of any further season or continuation of this story is up in the air. It's as unstructured and earnest as its hero. There's only one Shep, that's for sure. Bravo isn't going to repeat this formula with another insecure fan of the Bard. RelationShep (casting: Katie MacIntosh) Season 2 would have to stay in his world.

His spinoff could spin into something else entirely, too. What if Shep Rose became the Southern Bethenny Frankel, who has starred in multiple Bravo shows after The Real Housewives (writer/story editor: Marcy Soufrine)? Shep's fellow Southern Charm (composer: Mia Sable) cast members might not be too pleased with that, but it's possible.

What if Season 2 was all about Shep's producer/BFF, Sarah Steinfeld? Bravo could honestly create a whole RelationShep (producer: Kate Fisher) cinematic universe based on his pals that have been setting him up with these women.

The show is pretty experimental, as far as reality dating shows go, with the way they break the fourth wall and invite the audience in to Shep's life journey. Bravo probably shouldn't let this show go. In an interview with Decider, producer Aaron Rothman said of the structure that, “we wanted a sense of UnReal [creator: Marti Noxen], and we thought that was a really clever and smart way to put it together."

Rose also cited Episodes (co-producer: Debbie Pisani) and The Larry Sanders Show (writer: Maya Forbes, 18 episodes) as meta inspirations. “I wish there were more,” Rose said about his regrets after Season 1. “There’s just so many scenes that we were all rolling on the ground and just having a great time with.”

“I feel like in a way this is two or three shows in one,” Steinfeld said in the same interview. “Because there’s the road and then there’s the house, and it’s very complicated. We thought a lot about everything all the time, so that we could make it as natural as possible when we’re shooting. And I think we did accomplish that, feeling really real and authentic. I’m really proud of it as well.”

In the Decider interview, Rothman suggested that another season would follow another Bravo-lebrity, but why? Sure, the quest to find love is the focus of the spinoff but the "secondary characters," so to speak, are equally engaging. Fans probably wouldn't complain if more Southern Charm (editor: Alanna Yudin, five episodes) personalities popped up for guest appearances, either.

The "house and the road" don't make this show. It's Shep. On Watch What Happens Live (director: Sarah De Lao) in July 2017, Shep almost alluded to being in a long-term relationship with someone, but then went on a ramble about thinking that "haunting" sounded sexy and something he wanted in life. Now that we know he and Bella aren't together, it's all starting to make sense.

What's exciting about RelationShep (field producer: Carlin Cwik) is how unexpected it can be. Season 2, if it happens, shouldn't change that.