On Monday, Bravo made the announcement that iconic housewife Phaedra Parks will be coming back to the Real Housewives of Atlanta. The news comes after a six season hiatus. Parks made her exit from RHOA after a tumultuous season nine. While she’s returning to her old stomping grounds and where we first began to know her, she hasn’t strayed from our screens—she’s participated in WeTV’s Marriage Boot Camp: Hip-Hop Edition in 2020, before returning to the Bravo Universe in 2021 for Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip, and then to one season on the fellow Atlanta show, Married To Medicine as well as Peacock’s Traitors, which was recently nominated for four Emmys.
She joins the show after much news has come out about the upcoming season. Producers have done a major overhaul of the cast, and former housewives Marlo Hampton, Sheree Whitfield, and Kandi Burruss not returning for season 16. However, the forthcoming season will introduce several new housewives on the Atlanta franchise, including Brittany Eady, Kelli Ferrrell, and Angela Oakley. Drew Sidora is slated to return, and we previously announced that Porsha Williams will return as a housewife, and also inked a new deal with Bravo in the process. Longtime friend of Williams, Shamea Morton will also gain a peach this season. Cynthia Bailey will also return to the season, this time, as a friend of the housewives.
Kenya Moore was originally billed to be on the new season, but per Hollywood Reporter, the former Miss USA’s exit followed a pending investigation surrounding Moore targeting Eady with revenge porn.
Show producers had been visibly scrambling putting together a new cast for season 16, as much news had broken ahead of the season airing. Nonetheless, there’s always room for a cast shake up, and Parks rejoining the franchise is just that. On social media, she shared a post of herself walking out of a private jet with a peach in hand. The caption reads, “You called. I answered.”
The overall sentiment from fans was positive — seeing that one of the queens of reads would be returning to the franchise. She first made her debut on RHOA in the show’s third season in 2010, and remained a fan favorite.
Season 16 of RHOA is still currently in filming, and no air date has been set yet.
