On August 20th, the new season of the TLC reality series Sister Wives is scheduled to premiere. Despite the long-running series entering its 18th season, new dramas involving Kody Brown and his polygamist family will have viewers as enthralled as ever.
As many Sister spouses viewers are aware, Kody Brown, the family patriarch, has divorced three spouses in the past two years. The first indication that the Brown family unit wasn’t as stable as it seemed came when Christine Brown left the polygamist sect in 2021 after 28 years of non-legally binding marriage to Kody.
In Dec. 2022, Janelle Brown also announced her separation from Kody, followed just a month later by Meri Brown announcing she and Kody had also split. As of July 2023, this means that Kody is down to just one wife – his only legal spouse, Robyn Brown. This swift loss of three decades-long marriages seems to indicate that the he Brown family’s troubles started snowballing over the past few years.
Now that Kody Brown is now reluctantly living a life of monogamy – how does a new season of Sister Wives justify its existence? The show’s title is now pretty misleading, especially if his former wives are going to depart from the show as well as the polygamist sect.
The season 18 trailer gives us an idea of how the series may work
On July 13th, the TLC network released a teaser for the upcoming season of Sister Wives. As shown in the trailer, Kody states that Christine is now gone, and Christine is absent from the trailer footage. It is likely that Christine won’t appear in the new season, as she departed from the sect in the season 17 finale along with her daughter, Truely Brown.
Meanwhile, Janelle’s feud has continued into the new season, with the trailer highlighting an explosive argument between Kody and Janelle where Kody storms out of the room. Given their split announcement in 2022, it is difficult to measure from the trailer alone if – or when – Jannelle exits the series.
Meri is shown stating she still has hope for the marriage, but is later shown saying she’s “out” of the sect. Similarly to Janelle, Meri’s departure could very well mean an exit from the show, but this cannot be confirmed until the episodes begin airing. With editing and story arcs, the second and third breakdown of Kody’s marriages could take up an entire season’s narrative, with Meri and Janelle appearing until the season 18 finale.
Perhaps only a nineteenth season would let viewers know how a monogamous Brown family would work on a TV series. If the trailer is anything to go by, Christine’s tearful wish to share a porch with her sister wives could mean a hunt for new spouses in the near future. Moreover, Kody has several children across his marriages, and they will likely remain series regulars should the series continue.