Could SLOMW Continue Without Taylor Frankie Paul? Season 5's Edit Suggests No

For five seasons, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives fans have watched the same cycle over and over again. By the end of Season 5, the show and its cast appear to have had enough of Taylor Frankie Paul’s never-ending relationship drama, especially as her legal issues have overtaken headlines and a season of The Bachelorette has been cancelled. And in the new season’s final moment, the series questions if it can continue without MomTok’s leader. At this point, it probably should shift the focus to the other cast members, but Season 5’s relentlessly TFP-focused edit suggests that Mormon Wives isn’t really interested in turning the cameras away from its favorite star.

Of course, you can’t really blame production for centering this new season on Taylor, even if her back-and-forth with Dakota Mortensen is extremely well-worn by now. Pretty much everyone who tuned into Season 5 was doing so because of Taylor’s whirlwind year, with the mystery surrounding her unseen Bachelorette season promising tons of juicy revelations.

MomTok dutifully flanks into formation around Taylor for five episodes of fruitless chatter about how she needs to stop sleeping with Dakota.

But that promise was more enticing than the delivery, as once again, we watched MomTok dutifully flank into formation around Taylor for five episodes of fruitless chatter about how she needs to stop sleeping with Dakota. It’s not just viewers who are growing weary of Taylor and Dakota pulling focus with the same schtick over and over again — their co-stars are also starting to call out the show’s weighted editing.

In the past, Mormon Wives has given other cast members meaningful screentime. Most notably, Season 3 gave Jessi Draper the spotlight during her cheating scandal with Vanderpump Villa’s Marciano Brunette. (It probably helped that this was a synergistic cross-promotional opportunity for Hulu.) Whitney Leavitt and Demi Engemann also pulled a fair amount of focus early on for being willing to play into the reality TV villain archetype, but tellingly, both have distanced themselves from the show in recent years.

Through it all, Taylor has been the only reliable instigator in the eyes of Mormon Wives production, it seems. Mayci Neely, Mikayla Matthews, Jen Affleck, Layla Taylor, and Miranda Hope each get some side stories to fill out episodes, but for the most part, the series is only really interested in them when they are talking about Taylor and Dakota’s relationship. That’s what made Season 5’s finale feel almost hopeful for a split-second, as the rest of MomTok called out Taylor’s favorable edit and brought up the notion of cutting ties with her. But of course, this brief spark was undermined almost immediately by Taylor’s co-stars fearing what life outside her headline-making orbit might look like.

After Taylor unloaded on Mikayla and Mayci for “making jabs” at her relationship drama by pointing out she had yet to inform her Bachelorette fiancé she cheated on him, Jessi noted how the argument would likely be edited to benefit “queen Taylor.” And Mikayla, seemingly reaching her breaking point, said she couldn’t put up with being mistreated by her supposed friend any longer.

It’s immediately after all this that Taylor informed MomTok about Dakota initiating a lawsuit against her, which reportedly caused Mormon Wives to pause production. (The allegations have not been independently verified, and the legal proceedings between Paul and Mortensen are ongoing.) Season 5 ends with the question of who will lead MomTok now, as the cast ruminates on continuing to film without Taylor.

Season 6 is confirmed, and has already begun filming. And Taylor is reportedly returning, although it’s unclear how large of a role she will play. But judging from how Season 5 treated her latest scandal, fans can probably expect her to be the center of attention once again. Even if she’s not physically in as many scenes as she has been before, Taylor will almost definitely remain the primary topic of conversation among MomTok. Because even if the fans, the cast, and maybe even the show itself have grown tired of Taylor’s unchanging drama — she’s proven to be the most reliable reality TV persona to get as messy as the cameras need.