“Real Housewives of Atlanta” fans will be getting a sweet blend of the past and present this season.
Season 16 of the hit Bravo “Housewives” franchise (premiering Sunday at 8 p.m. EDT/PDT on Bravo, streaming the next day on Peacock) will feature OGs Porsha Williams, Cynthia Bailey and, returning after six seasons, Phaedra Parks, along with returning cast member Drew Sidora and a slew of new ladies getting their peaches for the first time – Shamea Morton Mwangi, Brit Eady, Kelli Ferrell and Angela Oakley.
For Parks, this cast is a return to the fun and occasional “shadiness” fans love.
“We’re trying to basically get back to what made Atlanta the flashiest of the franchise. Just good, old-fashioned, fun sisterhood,” says the attorney, who is returning later this season. “Drama, but also, laughs and crying. I think that’s what became missing in those past two seasons.”
Parks said she decided to return because of Williams. The fan-favorite Frick and Frack duo is reuniting this season after years of ups and downs. “I love her,” says Parks.
“And additionally, once I found out that Cynthia would be returning – we came into the show together as newbies,” Parks says. “I love Cynthia, and our children have grown up together. So that was a definite plus.”
Bailey is back as an official “friend of the Housewives” while focusing on her acting career, though she is still “very involved.” She says: “I ended up shooting a lot more than I even thought I would even be shooting, to be honest.”
“She’s an entrepreneur, so I think that she’s going to be a great role model for women, but also she’s definitely very entertaining. She’s a very loud little woman,” Parks says of Ferrell, laughing.
Williams says she wasn’t familiar with the new cast – outside of Morton Mwangi – beforehand and admits some of these relationships were “a little rocky” to start the season. “But they ended up developing right there on TV. Because I can relate to people who are real, and I will have to say that a few of these girls are real,” she says. “Some of them, we’re going through the same situation, and so they’re very relatable.”
As for their own appearances, Parks marks her return later this season, while Bailey pops in to be a “voice of reason and a support system” for the women, including Sidora, who has been part of the cast since 2020.
“Drew Sidora, I actually brought on show when she entered. And she’s going through a divorce (from Ralph Pittman). Obviously, we were able to connect on that,” Bailey adds, going through her own divorces in 2017 and 2022. “I had some advice for her, in terms of that.”
