When Will ‘The Bachelor’ Season 25 With Matt James Begin Filming?

Matt James The Bachelor Season 25 ABC

We’re one step closer to seeing Matt James’ season of The Bachelor.

Production is expected to begin on Season 25, with the franchise’s first Black Bachelor, at the end of September, Deadline reports. That would put it on track to premiere in January 2021, the usual month the ABC hit dating show premieres.

Just like The Bachelorette‘s 16th season, with Clare Crawley (from The Bachelor Season 18 with Juan Pablo Galavis) as its star, Matt’s search for love will be filmed in a quarantine bubble. After all, the spinoff successfully completed filming on September 1 without having to pause — and that was after hearing of other productions that had had to do so despite strict precautions in place. (Matt was even supposed to be one of Clare’s potential suitors, before production shut down in March due to the pandemic.)

“For us, starting was not the victory, it was the finish,” Rob Mills, SVP, Alternative Series, Specials & Late-Night Programming, ABC Entertainment, said. “The fact that it’s in the can and we have an entire season of The Bachelorette that will air is fantastic.” He added that he wants to “go back and start traveling on location with these shows” as soon as they can do so safely.

Clare Crawley Bachelor Greatest Seasons Ever ABC Bachelorette Suite

Clare Crawley in quarantine for her season of The Bachelorette (ABC)

The Bachelorette eliminated traveling to various locations for Season 16, something Clare liked, she revealed in an appearance on The Bachelor: The Greatest Seasons – Ever! during a retrospective on Juan Pablo’s season. “I want somebody who’s not excited about the wonderful locations — which is great and it’s awesome to be able to go do those things, which I’ve done before — but this is more of what I’m looking for, just real one-on-one connection or multiple connections and just having the time to get to know each other way better and not having to focus on anything greater or bigger than that,” she said.

Stay tuned for more on Matt James’ Bachelor season as details are announced!

The Bachelor, Season 25, 2021, ABC