Lara Sophia 
AllAboutTRH dishes on the recent rumors surrounding the Atlanta Housewives franchise Find out if OGs NeNe Leakes and Kim Zolciak are returning to the fold for season 16 of RHOA.
On top of gossip that Phaedra Parks could be returning for season 16 of RHOA, there’s also rumors swirling that Kim Zolciak and NeNe Leakes are also in talks with Bravo.
Media Take Out reports that Kim Zolciak is returning to the Real Housewives of Atlanta for season 16 and she’s bringing tons of drama with her.
The RHOA OG recently shared a selfie on her Instagram Stories in which she included a camera emoji which many believe was her attempt at teasing her return to Bravo.
Bravo and Kim have reportedly come to an agreement (aka a salary) that works for both of them. The network is also in talks with the 44-year-old’s estranged husband Kroy Biermann to have him film for season 16.
Kim and Kroy are currently living together in their Atlanta mansion amid their ongoing, and very messy, divorce battle. Bravo is hoping to capture the drama of their split on camera.
Meanwhile, TMZ reports that NeNe Leakes will NOT be returning to the Real Housewives of Atlanta for season 16.
Sources reveal that NeNe isn’t in talks to join the upcoming season. In fact, sources note that producers haven’t even reached out the OG about the possibility of returning to the fold.
This all comes amid Porsha Williams return to the Atlanta Housewives franchise. On February 13, the 42-year-old announced that she was reclaiming her peach.
“Who said that Porsha Williams [is] coming back to ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’? That’s false,” the Bravoleb said in a cheeky social media video.
“But Porsha Guobadia?” she continued, referencing her new married name,“is in the building! See ya!”
The Atlanta Housewives franchise has been on hiatus since concluding its 15th season in September 2023.
For months rumors have been swirling about Bravo’s plans to reboot the franchise à la the Real Housewives of New York. But it seems instead of giving RHOA a complete overhaul, Bravo is simply revamping the series.
Part of that revamp includes the exit of Kandi Burruss, who has starred on RHOA for 14 consecutive seasons. Kandi announced her exit on February 4 at the 2024 Grammys.
“I decided I’m not coming back this year,” she told Variety. “It’s been 14 seasons, and they allowed us to sit around for a little too long, but during that time I had started working on a lot of other things, and I got some nice big projects coming soon, so I’m super excited about those things.”
Season 15 of RHOA starred Kandi Burruss, Kenya Moore, Shereé Whitfield, Drew Sidora, Sanya Richards-Ross and Marlo Hampton.
Bravo honcho Andy Cohen recently teased Bravo’s plans for the Atlanta Housewives franchise amid their “pause.”
“I’m not announcing anything, but we are on it and the casting is superb and it’s funny because I saw casting last week and last week I was thinking, ‘Okay, this is gonna be great. We have a sense,’” Andy explained on the February 6 episode of SiriusXM’s Andy Cohen Live
He continued, “And by the way, now that we know Kandi is leaving, that also allows us to put other puzzle pieces together and figure out, ‘Okay, well, you know, where do we go here?’ and she’s a big loss, but I think, you know, it allows us to figure out the future and I guess this is me just saying I’m very excited about the casting that we have. Very.”
The Real Housewives of Atlanta is expected to return for season 16 in 2024.
