{"id":919945,"date":"2026-10-07T23:16:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T23:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/919945\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T23:16:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T23:16:10","slug":"a-timeline-shift-seven-makes-a-call-on-farmer-wants-a-wife","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/919945\/","title":{"rendered":"“A timeline shift”: Seven makes a call on Farmer Wants a Wife"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\t\t\t\tIt’s one of Seven’s biggest shows, and was a hit in 2026. So why did the network hit pause?\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Late last week Eureka Productions got the directive from Seven.<\/p>\n

Network plans had changed. It was pausing plans for Farmer Wants a Wife. Casting was to stop. One of its biggest returning shows would have to wait.<\/p>\n

Just what is behind the decision is speculative\u2026 more on that shortly\u2026.<\/p>\n

When the story broke, Seven Managing Director of TV and Streaming Angus Ross clarified \u201cThe show has not been cancelled. Seven will produce the next series of Farmer Wants a Wife in 2027.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rikkie Proost, CEO of Eureka Productions, confirmed to TV Tonight a timeline for the next season has changed but pre-production had stopped.<\/p>\n

A casting team working on the next season was let go.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a casting team (let go) and obviously we\u2019d started speaking to people, and people were lined up for production. But in terms of those that were actually engaged, it was largely the casting team,\u201d he confirmed.<\/p>\n

\u201cRelationship shows don\u2019t sit on the shelf very well. You\u2019ve got to try get them to air as soon as possible after you\u2019ve shot them.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got people that are in relationships or holding off being seen together in public \u2013 and you want to capitalise on relationships while they\u2019re still hot.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Farmer, we like to keep it as close to broadcast as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo the decision was made, \u2018Let\u2019s just pause and let\u2019s start back up again, closer to when we\u2019re going to be shooting it,\u2019 which is in 27.\u201d<\/p>\n

A decision to halt during, or just before, production is rare but not unprecedented in Australia.<\/p>\n

Shows including 10 talent series Don\u2019t Stop Believin\u2019, Nine drama reboot Return to Eden, Netflix comedy God\u2019s Favorite Idiot and even Eureka\u2019s own The Amazing Race Australia all got the untimely call. Many more still never even got that far.<\/p>\n

\"Group<\/a><\/p>\n

Seven\u2019s decision appears to be pushing the show into financial year 2027 \u2013 28, although that\u2019s not confirmed.<\/p>\n

It comes after the announcement to screen I\u2019m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, and speculation that The Voice, which had a solid season, will return. Both are produced by ITV Studios Australia.<\/p>\n

Farmer Wants a Wife also had a strong season in 2026, up 22% year on year. Whilst none of the farmers are now coupled up, it was nevertheless a good result for a show in its 16th season.<\/p>\n

\u201cSonya Wilkes, our Chief Content Officer, oversaw the last series, and she just brought a whole new energy to it. It was an outstanding series, ratings-wise,\u201d Proost observes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a show that has performed incredibly well for them for the last five years and extremely well in the last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seven\u2019s 2027 Upfront will be held on October 22 at Luna Park, Sydney. Farmer is expected to be part of the announcements, but it isn\u2019t clear if it will screen in 2027 or 2028. Angus Ross has previously referred to some shows screening every two years as a way of keeping franchises alive.<\/p>\n

Seven and Eureka will meet today, and while active casting has paused, there now remains more time for single farmers and ladies to throw their hat in the ring.<\/p>\n

\u201cCasting still remains open<\/a>,\u201d says Proost. \u201cIt\u2019s full confidence that it\u2019s going ahead. It\u2019s just a timeline shift.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It’s one of Seven’s biggest shows, and was a hit in 2026. So why did the network hit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":919946,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,134,427],"class_list":["post-919945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=919945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919945\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/919946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=919945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=919945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=919945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}