Hulu will air a sixth season, and perhaps a seventh, of The Kardashians. The Disney-owned streaming service has ordered 20 more episodes of the unscripted series starring the Kardashian family. The renewal comes a day before the end of the show’s fifth season.

What is still unclear is how those 20 episodes will be split, if at all. All five seasons of The Kardashians have had 10 episodes since the family moved their on-camera life to Hulu after 14 years of Keeping Up With the Kardashians on E! If that pattern holds, the 20 episodes would mean two more seasons, but there’s no firm plan or official confirmation yet.

Hulu says the season five premiere of The Kardashians on May 23 was its most-watched unscripted premiere of the year so far. This happened both on Hulu in the US and on Disney+ and Star+ in international markets. It should be clarified that, as is usual with most streaming services, detailed viewing data is not shared.

The fifth season of the series was filmed in late 2023 and dealt with the complications of Kourtney Kardashian Barker’s pregnancy, a health scare for matriarch Kris Jenner and the usual doses of intra-family drama.

Ben Winston is an executive producer of The Kardashians alongside Emma Conway, Elizabeth Jones and showrunner Danielle King. Kris Jenner, Kourtney Kardashian Barker, Kim Kardashian, Khloé Kardashian, Kendall Jenner and Kylie Jenner are also executive producers.

Why did ‘Keeping Up with the Kardashians’ end?

In 2021, Kim Kardashian broke the news that Keeping Up With the Kardashians was coming to an end after 14 years on the air and 20 seasons. But what prompted E! to pull the series off the air?

There are several explanations for this, and together they form a solid enough justification for the show’s end:

Reason 1: Ratings

It’s true that from the beginning, KUWTK was a hit. By the third year on the air it had 4.8 million viewers, and the numbers kept rising. A year later, the audience grew even more: 10.5 million people did not miss the wedding of Kim Kardashian and basketball player Kris Humphries.

However, the numbers started to drop. According to the Daily Mail newspaper, since the fourth year they have lost an average of 3 million viewers and season 18, which had to be cut short due to the pandemic, registered just 1 million people for its premiere episode.

Reason 2: Kanye West’s public meltdown

The Daily Mail newspaper said that Kim Kardashian, then Kanye’s wife, did not want KUWTK to document any of the rapper’s bipolar episodes. In addition, the businesswoman banned the show from showing her children during this complicated period for Kanye, as she doesn’t want the kids to see any images related to the issue.

Reason 3: Kim and Kourtney’s feud

Aired during season 18, the fight was the talk of the town, but the fact is that showing the two sisters in a fistfight in front of the cameras was damaging.

Many fans criticised both KUWTK and E! for showing such an event, saying it looked like they were promoting aggressive behaviour between the families.

Kim tried to downplay the scenes, mocking on Twitter the fight she had with her sister; however, Kourtey didn’t follow suit and ended up agreeing with her fans, saying the scenes were trashy and embarrassing.

Reason 4: Family members who refused to continue appearing in the show

As the seasons have gone on, more and more KUWTK stars have decided not to appear on the show, which has complicated filming.

First it was Rob and Caitlyn Jenner who stopped appearing on the show, then it was Kendall Jenner, who chose to pursue her modelling career rather than continue appearing on the show. Then the plot thickened, as it was Kourtney and Kylie who refused to continue appearing.