Whitney Port weighed in on MTV pulling the plug on the reboot of The Hills after only two seasons. Speaking EXCLUSIVELY with HollywoodLife, the 37-year-old fashion designer revealed why she was ready to part ways with The Hills: New Beginnings and what she thought went down for the network to scrap a third season.
“Honestly, I don’t really know what ended up happening at the end,” Whitney began. “We started filming the second season and then COVID hit and we took a lot of time off and I got a little perspective about it and I was like ‘I don’t know if this is something that I really want to be a huge part of.’ Not for a negative reason, but just because it wasn’t part of my life anymore.”
She went on to say she “took a step back” from the production at the time. “I don’t really know why it got canceled,” she continued. “I’m assuming just because enough people weren’t watching it.” However, she did insist that the pandemic threw a few curveballs in producing a TV drama. “I think with COVID it was really hard to film a tv show,” Whitney explained. “Getting out, seeing each other, I’m sure it was really hard to make the drama.”
While the network brought back many of the OG cast members like Whitney, Brody Jenner, Audrina Patridge, Heidi Montag, Spencer Pratt, Frankie Delgado, Jason Wahler and more, Lauren Conrad, who some consider the biggest star of the series, opted out of the reboot, which could make a case for why it wasn’t a sure-fire hit. Whitney appeared to agree. “I’m sure people really wanted to see all the original cast all together and perhaps everyone was missing her,” she told HollywoodLife. “She was like the major part of the show, you know? So.”
Meanwhile, MTV recently announced another reboot of the show, calling this one The Hills: Next Gen, which will focus on a new group of young adults. Audrina didn’t take it lightly that OG members were not going to be a part of the new series. “I can’t believe they’re doing this, to be honest. We were all kind of shocked,” she said on TalkShopLive. “Especially because on The Hills: New Beginnings, we had a cast of 14 and it was actually really hard to film because there were so many people and so many things going on.”
And Kristin Cavallari backed Audrina up! “That’s definitely a slap in the face,” Kristin declared, while co-hosting E! News’ Daily Pop. “I would be a little butt hurt about that too.” She also said she thinks it sounds like “a totally different show” than the original. “If they’re getting an entirely new cast, how are you even going to call it The Hills?”.