The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives hasn’t been renewed for season 2 yet — but executive producers Jeff Jenkins and Danielle Pistotnik are already excited to explore more of the drama.
“There’s so many stories that these women have to share,” Pistotnik exclusively shared in Us Weekly‘s newest cover story. “Their upbringing is unbelievably heartbreaking — a lot of them — and it is so inspiring to listen to.”
Pistotnik noted that production didn’t have “enough time” to share everyone’s story during season 1.
“If we get to do another season, I really, really want these women to be able to talk about what brought them to where they’re today,” she said. “[Scenes that ended up on the cutting role floor] was really just a function of the amount of time that we had.”
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The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, which premiered earlier this month on Hulu, was an eight-part reality series that followed Mormon mom influencers who were caught up in a swinging sex scandal. Taylor Frankie Paul, Whitney Leavitt, Jen Affleck, Demi Engemann, Mikayla Matthews, Mayci Neeley, Jessi Ngatikaura and Layla Taylor made up the cast alongside their significant others.
“We talked to them [before filming] and we said, ‘What’s going on in her lives? What are you comfortable talking about?’ Granted, it was eight episodes, so a lot of it was left out,” Pistotnik continued. “Hopefully if we get another chance to do this, those stories get to be shared. But we really took the ladies’ lead and what was significant in their lives at the time.”
Jenkins also reflected on the origins of the show.
“The vision for the show never changed in that it is one part very loud and frothy soap opera with a little bit of cheating. But then at the same time, you have this fascinating exploration of a religious faith,” the executive producer told Us about keeping the story lines “balanced” on screen. “Another producer might have just went with the salacious scandal of swinging and ignored the religion. Or another producer might have really focused on the religion and downplayed everyday life and all the other stuff.”
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He continued: “The vision was always a balance. We tinkered with that balance but we certainly didn’t want to just condemn the Mormon faith. Not at all. Religion has challenges within it and things that some folks would like to be changed. So it’s finding the balance between the soap opera and this very real conundrum that they’re bumping up against their faith.”
Despite soft swinging not being the entire point of the show, Jenkins said the door is open for other past participants to speak out.
“There are some missing pieces to the story. Because when you really pull it apart in our season, Taylor Frankie Paul is the only one who was actually there. She was boots on the ground for the soft swinging. So there are some of Taylor’s other MomTok pals who we’re looking at,” he teased. “There are holes in the story and there’s more to say. Every season of a successful show, I’d love to introduce a new cast member or two. It just keeps it alive and interesting and gives a new perspective.”
Jenkins would also like to see Whitney return in some capacity even though she left MomTok, adding, “If we get a pickup for season 2, there’s so much more to her story and her evolution as a human being and as a woman living in the Mormon faith. Whether she’s in or out of the group, I want her to be in the show.”
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Pistotnik, meanwhile, wants to shine a light on Mayci, who revealed to Us that she previously filmed scenes discussing her history with sexual assault and domestic violence.
“Mayci’s story is just heartbreaking and there’s millions of people that follow her because she inspired them,” she shared. “I think Mikayla’s story — what she’s going through now — of being so young and going through autoimmune disease. A ton of people could benefit from not feeling alone and seeing this young woman who seemingly has it all just going through it too.”
She concluded: “We don’t even have season two confirmed. I feel like there’s so many players in this story and so many different perspectives that would be fun to hear from.”
For more on the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, watch the exclusive video above and pick up the latest issue of Us Weekly — on newsstands now.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
