It’s been a tumultuous year for “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” but the show is expanding into a franchise — with a move that has left some fans and many members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints perplexed.
Last week, Hulu announced a spinoff show, “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives: Orange County,” which will premiere on Hulu and Disney+ later this year. Just as the original show followed the personal lives of a core cast of Utah influencers and their families, the Orange County spinoff will revolve around a group of young mothers, most of whom have sizable online followings.
The announcement was quickly met with skepticism.
“We actually don’t want this,” reads one of the most-liked comments on Hulu’s Instagram post announcing the spinoff.
“Secret Lives of Mormon Wives: Orange County except none of them are Mormon and half of them don’t even live in Orange County,” another responded.
Much of the criticism of the new show is centered on the fact that most of its cast is not actually “Mormon,” a nickname given to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (Although members of the church have historically been called both Mormons and Latter-day Saints, the church has made an emphasis in recent years on the full name of the faith in order to focus more on Jesus Christ.)
Here are some reactions to the “Secret Lives: Orange County” announcement from social media.
Who is actually ‘Mormon’ on ‘Secret Lives OC’?
Pop culture commentator Katey Champion responded to the news with a video where she details which of the Orange County cast members have a Latter-day Saint background. Not many, as she found out.
“I feel like ‘Secret Lives of Young Wives’ would have been a more accurate title for it, since more than half of the cast has never been Mormon,” Champion said in her video, which has been viewed over 1 million times.
Many commenters agreed:
- @notjustanothermom_: Just call it “secret lives of OC wives”?? Like let “secret lives” be the franchise, keep Mormon out of it, then it can expand
- @carlyesquerra: It’s more like “the secret lives of divorced influencers and friends”
- @sav.chish: Most not Mormon, not wives, and not from OC. Literally no one wants this lol. The original was popular because we were invested in the people, not just some random Mormon fascination.
- @worm_with_a_mustache: Secret lives of Mormon adjacent wives 😂
One commenter, Cassidy Hope Williams, said it would have made more sense to name the show without invoking a particular religion.
“I feel like this is one of those situations where you’re using religions kind of as clickbait,” she wrote. “I don’t think that’s super appropriate.”
‘Why are we pretending they’re Mormon?’
Utah content creator Courtney Malchow suggested that the show would have better luck franchising if they dropped the “Mormon” title from the name completely.
“Why are they holding so strong to the ‘Mormon Wives’ title?” she said in one video posted to Instagram. “Why wouldn’t they have titled it ‘The Secret Lives of Influencer Wives’? And then you can franchise to so many other states.”
Malchow suggested that focusing on the culture the women of the show truly represent would allow for better expansion; “The Secret Lives of Country Club Wives” in Texas or “The Secret Lives of Yachting Wives” in Florida, for example.
“We do want to see these women in these niche spaces,” she said. “But why are we pretending they’re Mormon?”
The real ‘Mormon’ drama: Cookies and casseroles
After Variety posted about the spinoff announcement on X, formerly Twitter, many people again questioned the series’ title and casting choices.
“Too bad none of them are actually ‘Mormon,’” X user Denise Cors responded. “The drama would only consist of making cookies and casseroles for neighbors.”
Other commenters, however, expressed their excitement for the new show.
“We have always had a huge Mormon population in OC & in San Diego County,” X user Dolly Madison replied. “Some of the most talented girls I went to school with were Mormon & sang in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They got all of the leads in the school musicals. I’m super excited to see this.”
‘Some things that are more Mormon than the cast of Secret Lives OC’
Rebbie Brassfield analyzes representations of the Church of Jesus Christ in media, posting under the Instagram handle @mormonsinmedia. In a humorous video posted in response to the “Secret Lives: Orange County” announcement, she listed a number of people who appear “more Mormon” than the cast, among whom are Muslims, Jews and the pope.
Content creator and Latter-day Saint Shayla Egan, who goes by @ldspreppergirl on Instagram, shared her thoughts in a comment under Brassfield’s video.
“It needs to be renamed to ‘Secret Lives of Influencers,’” she wrote. “Half (if not more) aren’t members and not married. So why use the names ‘Mormon’ and ‘Wives’?”
‘Is it not offensive to the Mormon community?’
One “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” Reddit thread, dedicated to asking questions about the spinoff announcement, had a similarly lukewarm welcome from fans.
Most commenters in the thread ask the same question: Why is the franchise still following the “Mormon” name when religion plays almost no role in the show? Why not focus on the women’s identities as young mothers or content creators?
One user, who goes by Clear_Middle_828, wrote, “How can they get away with this? Is it not offensive to the Mormon community?” Why are they calling themselves something they aren’t.”
What is our fascination with ‘Mormon’ culture?
Jonquilyn Hill, host of Vox podcast “Explain It to Me,” analyzed how the spinoff’s announcement reflects a greater fascination with “Mormon” culture.
“Why are we including these women under the umbrella of ‘Mormon wives’ if they are not, in fact, Mormon?” she asked. “Well, it likely has to do with our overall fascination with Mormon culture.”
Back in March, Hill interviewed The Atlantic’s McKay Coppins, who is a practicing Latter-day Saint. Coppins raised concerns about the faith being lost amid this cultural obsession.
“I think there is a little bit of discomfort in some quarters of the church that Mormonism will come to be seen as all these sort of pop cultural indicators,” Coppins told Hill. “The reality shows, the weird soda cocktails that everybody drinks, and then not actually be identified by their religious beliefs.”