'The Bachelorette' Testing Plans for Filming Season 16 Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

The producers behind The Bachelorette are getting creative when it comes to getting Clare Crawley's season off the ground once production parameters begin to get back to normal once the coronavirus curve has been flattened. Variety reported Friday that the ABC dating show is looking at a number of options for the upcoming season, which was derailed by the pandemic shutdown, including renting out a private resort for weeks on end where Crawley and her suitors would film the entirety of the season.

The season would reportedly include no travel outside the resort and would only move forward if the U.S. gets the coronavirus under control, which based on the strict self-isolation parameters in place for the next couple of months, might not be anytime soon. It's unclear how staples of The Bachelorette such as hometown dates would be affected by the potential change.

On March 11, Warner Bros. and ABC announced that Crawley's season would include no international travel as concern about the coronavirus ramped up in the U.S, with the studio announcing in a statement, "As the health and safety of our talent and employees are always our primary concerns, production travel is being evaluated on a case-by-case basis, factoring in the latest information from a variety of organizations, including the CDC, WHO, U.S. State Department and in-territory local health agencies."

Just days later, host Chris Harrison revealed the filming was on hold indefinitely. "Until we can do this show and do it safely, we won't do it," he told PEOPLE. "Right now we are just on hold and it's being postponed. But we're all chomping at the bit to get back to it and to have Clare be our Bachelorette."

"When we shoot Clare's season, it's going to be indicative of what's happening in the world," Harrison continued. "Obviously there will be talks of the pandemic and, 'What were you doing quarantining and who were you with?' Those are going to be the conversations that we're going to embrace. And then when you watch Clare's season, 20 years from now, you're going to think, 'What? What were these people doing? Why did they not hug? Why were they scared to embrace?' And that's kind of the beauty of this show is it always embraces what's happening in the real world."