Andy Cohen is excited about the return of Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of New Jersey.” The series has been off the air since 2024, and when the Garden State ladies return (likely in 2027), it’ll be must-see television. In a new interview, the Bravo figurehead and father of two opened up about why now was the right time to return the series from hiatus, saying it all had to do with Teresa Giudice and Melissa Gorga‘s recent reconciliation.
Speaking with Variety, Cohen, who serves as an executive producer of the series, said that “The Real Housewives of New Jersey’s” return has everything to do with Gorga and Giudice finally making up.
“They actually have [reconciled], and I do believe it,” Cohen said. “You know, this happened months ago, and we decided not to film anything because, frankly, we’ve seen Melissa — and we’ve seen Joe and Teresa — make up before. We were like, ‘Great, if you’re going to do this, go do it!’ And they lived in it for many months.”
Gorga and Giudice have fought incessantly on the show for over a decade. Their most recent fallout sent the show into a hiatus. However, they shocked the Bravoverse at BravoCon 2025 when they appeared side by side, telling the fandom they were moving forward as a family.
“I remember talking to Gia at BravoCon [2025], and she looked in my eye, and she was telling me things that they had been doing as a family, and she was emotional about having her uncle back and her cousins back. And I was like, ‘OK, good. This is real,’” Cohen added.
Gorga Says She And Giudice Are In A ‘Different Place’ Than They Were In 2024
At BravoCon, Gorga touched on her newfound relationship with her sister-in-law, admitting that the pair were in a much “different place” than they were in 2024.
“Let’s just say that… everybody’s working on it. We’re working on it. We’re trying to move forward and we’ve, you know, hashed a lot of things out privately without all of this. And I think that’s a good thing,” she said.
Gorga went on to say that she’s always wanted her family to be united while filming the series, and their time away from the show helped them both realize what was most important. “Whatever it takes to wake someone up is, you know, that’s how life goes, right? And you never want it to be a funeral or a wedding or someone in the hospital. Like, that’s not what we want. So, this was a more of a natural reason,” she said.
Andy Cohen Teases The Next Season Of ‘The Real Housewives Of New Jersey’
In addition to Giudice and Gorga making their long-awaited comeback, Bravo mainstay Dolores Catania will also be back in the mix.
While the rest of the cast members have yet to be announced, Cohen teased the next season, saying that the network put together a fantastic group of women.
“We have a great group, and this has been a journey,” he said on “Radio Andy.” “This has been a journey. We have gone through… this has been a long and winding road to get to this place, and I’m very excited. What we owe you is a good show, so that’s what we want to deliver.”
Gorga Says She’s Looking Forward To Everything New
Gorga echoed the exec’s statements during a chat with Us Weekly’s official Instagram account. “I mean, I’m excited,” she shared earlier this year, adding that the cast shakeup was a welcome change. “I love a little freshening up,” she said.
“We’ve done this before. We’ve been on this show for 15 years, so we’ve been through a lot of different people, and I’m excited about this crew,” she added.
Who Is Leaving The Series?
According to a previous report from The Blast, cast members Jackie Goldschneider, Jennifer Fessler, Rachel Fuda, and Danielle Cabral received their pink slips from the network and won’t be featured in the upcoming season.
Margaret Josephs was also booted from the show after seven seasons, and in her departure video, she told her followers that she was moving in a different direction.
“I think the timing is right. A lot of things have changed in my life. I’ve been blessed to work on a different project. I’m on the set right now,” she said. “I realized I have to spend more time with my family, work on my designing, and just take a break and move on.”
