‘The Valley’: Jax Taylor and Kristen Doute Bring on the Drama in Trailer for ‘Vanderpump’ Spinoff

When Kristen Doute, Jax Taylor and his wife, Brittany Cartwright, exited Vanderpump Rules in 2020, viewers weren’t quick to expect a return to Bravo. But nearly four years later, the trio have their own spinoff series with The Valley.

In a preview of the new reality series, released hours ahead of the fifth episode from Vanderpump Rules‘ 11th season, it’s evident that a lot has changed since trading West Hollywood for the San Fernando Valley. 

“The concrete jungle, the hard-core city life, that’s for when you’re in your 20s,” says Doute. “But I’m 40 now. The Valley is where I need to be.” 

The sneak peek features Doute and her boyfriend, Luke Broderick, discussing their plans to have children. “I can’t just get knocked up, like, any day of the week,” she explains. “We’re still trying to figure out my ovulation. But it’s not that we don’t practice.” Doute had previously shared on her podcast Sex, Love, and What Else Matters, which she co-hosts with Broderick, that the couple has been trying to have a child but experienced a miscarriage in November. 

As for how things are going in the Taylor household, the former SUR bartender shares that settling down in the Valley is “the next chapter of our lives.” Instead of picking fights with his co-workers, Taylor is spending his time trying to figure out how to set up his son Cruz’s car seat.

Since Taylor’s former Vanderpump Rules guy friends remain childless, he says he has instead sought out friendships with other dads. One of them is Jesse Lally, who has been in Taylor’s life for over a decade. “I met him when I was 23 years old, a long time ago,” Taylor explains. “We started modeling together in New York.” He appears on the show alongside his wife, Michelle. 

Another new couple starring in the spinoff is Danny and Nia Booko. They became friends with Taylor after Danny met him on a night out and, according to Doute, the couple is one of the more well-adjusted ones on the show. “I want to be Danny and Nia when I grow up,” says Doute. “They are couple goals, family goals.” 

Then there’s Jason and Janet Caperna, who like Taylor and Cartwright, made the decision to move from West Hollywood to The Valley to start a family. “[Janet] is always just like, good energy to me,” says Cartwright. However, from what’s shown in the teaser, the Capernas bring the drama, as Janet is filmed starting a fight at dinner with her former roommate Zack Wickham, another newcomer in the bunch. 

The cast also includes an additional new face: Jasmine Goode, who is friends with Michelle and Wickham and helps the latter navigate his feud with Janet.

While the cast tries their hardest to show a more mature side in the preview, it appears not all that much has changed since we last saw the Vanderpump Rules alums. According to Danny, Doute and Taylor are among the “most dramatic in the group.” 

As Wickham, who is the only unwedded star of the upcoming series, explains, “All these people move to The Valley, get a house, pop out a couple of kids, and then they think they’re so grown up. But these people don’t grow up.” 

Taylor and Cartwright announced their exit from Vanderpump Rules in December 2020 after a tumultuous run; Doute was fired from the series (alongside co-star Stassi Schroeder) in June 2020 after calling the police on former castmate Faith Stowers in 2018 to implicate her in a crime she did not commit.

Of deciding to bring the trio back to TV, producer Alex Baskin recently told The Hollywood Reporter, “I think that they learned a lot, I think they appreciate what it means to be on television and have this opportunity when it’s taken away from them, so I think there’s that. We address the Kristen situation, as well, so it isn’t like we pretend that everything didn’t happen. That comes up and is part of what we cover on the show.”

The Valley premieres on Bravo on March 19, following new episodes of Vanderpump Rules.