A source previously told PEOPLE that season 5 of the series had paused production
Credit: JC Olivera/Variety via Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Taylor Frankie Paul will not be returning to film the remainder of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives for the remainder of season 5.
- PEOPLE can exclusively confirm that the show will not be filming Taylor Frankie Paul or Dakota Mortensen when production resumes
- On March 19, ABC announced that it was canceling her forthcoming season of The Bachelorette, which was set to air three days later
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives is resuming production.
The hit Hulu series will resume its season 5 production, after pausing filming in late March, amid an ongoing domestic assault investigation involving cast member Taylor Frankie Paul and her ex-boyfriend, Dakota Mortensen.
PEOPLE can exclusively confirm the show will not be filming Paul or Mortensen when production resumes. PEOPLE reached out to Hulu and reps for Paul and Mortensen for comment.
Paul and Mortenson were involved in an open "domestic assault investigation" pertaining to incidents that occurred Feb. 24 and 25, Draper Police Department confirmed to PEOPLE on March 16, 2026. Amid news of the investigation, TMZ published footage from a 2023 incident involving the former couple, in which Paul was seen yelling and throwing chairs at Mortensen while a child was nearby.
Amid the ongoing domestic assault investigation, Mortensen filed for a protective order against Paul on March 19, according to court documents obtained by PEOPLE. On April 14, prosecutors announced that they would not be pursuing charges against Paul.
The previous production halt came amid ABC’s decision to cancel Paul's forthcoming season of The Bachelorette, which was set to premiere on March 22. After the initial pause, sources told PEOPLE on March 16 that fellow Mormon Wives cast members were maintaining their distance as the investigation unfolded.
“The girls are very overwhelmed. They all banded together and they don’t want to come back right now," said a source close to production. “They were just getting tired of Taylor, honestly."
“None of the women want to be associated with her," added a source close to the cast.
Cast member Mikayla Matthews publicly addressed the production pause in a post to her Instagram Stories on March 19 — hours before the Bachelorette cancellation was announced — saying that the choice to stop filming was “a decision that all us girls came up with and agreed on” and that they “didn’t feel comfortable filming with everything that was happening.”
Credit: Disney
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The pair share 2-year-old son Ever, and their volatile relationship has been documented throughout the first four seasons of Mormon Wives.
During an April 7 hearing, a judge granted Mortensen custody of their son, with up to eight hours per week of visitation for Paul supervised by a paid supervisor or someone vetted by the guardian ad litem. The arrangement is in effect until the pair's next hearing on April 30, when the judge will review their competing protective orders.
Paul was previously arrested for alleged domestic violence in 2023, and she pled guilty in abeyance to aggravated assault, which means that if she complies with the conditions of the plea, that charge will be dismissed. The other charges have already been dismissed.
A 2023 indictment obtained by PEOPLE alleged that Paul threw “heavy, metal chairs” at Mortensen and Paul's daughter was struck by a chair during the incident, which matches what occurs in the video.
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