‘The Real World’ Returning to Paramount+ With Original New York Cast

The Real World is coming back to the ViacomCBS family with a reunion season featuring the original New York City cast. The new Real World will debut on March 4 as one of the launch titles for Paramount+, the new streaming service currently known as CBS All Access. The landmark reality television show originally aired on MTV from 1992 to 2017 before returning for a brief one-season revival on Facebook Watch in 2019.

In the new season, the original seven cast members from The Real World Season 1 will discuss the moments from their groundbreaking season and how they look in light of today’s cultural landscape. Becky Blasband, Andre Comeau, Heather B. Gardner, Julie Genry, Norman Korpi, Eric Niles, and Kevin Powell are all taking part in the new episodes. They will also discuss how their lives changed dramatically after living together in a loft with cameras rolling.

“The Real World is credited with creating the Reality TV genre and was one of the first series to tackle important and yet unrepresented topics such as LGBTQ, race, gender, HIV/AIDS, and religion,” Chris McCarthy, President of MTV Entertainment Group, said in a statement. “With Paramount+ being the home to so many global reality hit franchises it seems only fitting to bring back the franchise and cast that started it all for the launch.”

The Real World was created by Jonathan Murray and the late Mary-Ellis Bunim of Bunim-Murray Productions. Each season began with a group of young strangers who live together in a loft in different locations. Seasons were filmed in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Seattle, London, Paris, Philadelphia, Key West, Sydney, Cancun, San Diego, and more throughout the first 32 seasons. The season filmed in 2019 for Facebook Watch was set in Atlanta. The show courted plenty of controversies during its run, from questions about its authenticity to questionable behavior from housemates. It was also praised for its handling of LGBTQ+ topics, famously featuring the first televised same-sex commitment ceremony and covering Pedro Zamora’s fight with AIDS during the third season.

Several seasons of The Real World are already available to stream on CBS All Access before it becomes Paramount+. The streaming service is also home to other reality shows, including The Amazing Race, Big Brother, The Challenge, Jersey Shore, Love Island, and RuPaul’s Drag Race. The Facebook Watch season of The Real World is also still available to stream.

Disclosure: PopCulture is owned by CBS Interactive, a division of ViacomCBS.