Former “Vanderpump Rules” star Stassi Schroeder has been cast in Season 2 of Hulu’s “Vanderpump Villa” alongside her former Sur boss, Lisa Vanderpump. In addition to joining the show’s cast, Schroeder has also signed a deal with the streamer, and her first project is developing a comedic half-hour docuseries called “Stassi Says.”
Schroeder’s return to the “Vanderverse” comes as somewhat of a surprise. She and fellow “Vanderpump Rules” star Kristen Doute were fired from “Vanderpump Rules” in 2020 for racist actions against their former castmate Faith Stowers. In 2018, after seeing a photo in the Daily Mail of a Black woman wanted for robbery in Los Angeles, Schroeder and Doute reported Stowers to police, but the woman in the article turned out not to be Stowers.
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Two years later, Stowers made the situation public after describing what had happened over an Instagram Live chat. Schroeder and Doute were fired from “Vanderpump Rules” shortly after. Schroeder, who had been with the show for eight seasons since its 2013 premiere, was subsequently dropped from her agency, UTA, and her public relations firm, Metro Public Relations.
In the years since, Schroeder has regained her popular perch. After being fired, she published a second book in 2022 “Off With My Head” in which she attempted to address her past mistakes (there had been many), and offered an apology. “I just understood entirely and completely how wrong I was,” Schroeder wrote. “I couldn’t even believe I had questioned Black Lives Matter. The realization that I was one of those freaking Karens who say ‘What about all lives matter?’ was a seriously tough pill to swallow.”
As her 2019 book, “Next Level Basic,” had been, “Off With My Head” became a New York Times bestseller. Her third book will be released next month, and Schroeder’s podcast “Stassi” has kept her in the zeitgeist, especially as a pundit about “Vanderpump Rules” controversies, such as the Scandoval.
Consequently, many “Vanderpump Rules” fans have been clamoring for Schroeder to join the show’s spinoff, “The Valley,” which premiered in March of this year, and stars her ex-castmates Doute, (her ex-boyfriend) Jax Taylor and his now-estranged wife. Brittany Cartwright. The show, currently in production on its second season, was renewed in May, and according to the network, was its “most-watched freshman series in nearly a decade.” With Doute —along with Taylor and Cartwright, who were also fired from “Vanderpump Rules” after its eighth season —having been welcomed back into the Bravo fold, Schroeder devotees have expressed on social media that her dry wit could only enhance the alchemical excellence of “The Valley.”
For her part, though, Schroeder —who lives with her husband Beau Clark and their two children —has consistently said she’s not interested in doing joining the show. When speaking with Jeff Lewis on his SiriusXM show in January, Schroeder said she had been asked to film a sizzle reel for “The Valley,” and “every fiber of my being voted no — like, truly.” She went on to say “it’s not my group of friends,” and said “I don’t want to go and do things I wouldn’t normally do —I don’t want to disrupt the life that I have right now, because I really like my life right now.”
So this announcement appears to answer that question for good.
Throughout “Vanderpump Rules,” Schroeder and Vanderpump had a fluctuating dynamic. When it came to her employees —who in the show’s early years did actually work for her at her West Hollywood restaurant, Sur — Vanderpump mostly favored the men in the cast, and tended to be disdainful toward the women.
But toward Schroeder, Vanderpump seemed eventually to offer her a grudging appreciation. She also spoke out after Schroeder was fired, and said she would have given her another chance. More recently, in June on Amanda Hirsch’s “Not Skinny but Not Fat” podcast, Vanderpump once again praised Schroeder, and said she still speaks with her. Perhaps we now know why.
With today’s news, Hulu also released some details about “Stassi Says.” Co-created by Schroeder and former “Vanderpump Rules” producers Erin Foye and Jenna Rosenfeld, will follow Schroeder and a new cast of “comedic and chaotic characters who are dealing with identity crises and major life crossroads of their own — and Stassi’s the one who has to keep them all afloat.” The docu-comedy, to use Hulu’s term, will be executive produced by Rosenfeld, Foye, Schroeder and Scout Productions.
Specifics about “Vanderpump Villa” Season 2, such as the premiere date, casting and location will be announced in the near future. “Vanderpump Villa” is executive produced by Vanderpump under her Villa Rosa banner. Bunim/Murray Productions, a Banijay Americas company, serves as producer.
