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90 Day Fiancé Hopes To Feature Transgender, Hearing-Impaired Love Stories

The reality series, which showcases immigration love stories, is "just getting started."
  • Jibri & Miona and Bilal & Shaeeda in 90 Day Fiancé Season 9 (Photos: Craig Mitchelldyer/Lauren Pusateri/TLC)
    Jibri & Miona and Bilal & Shaeeda in 90 Day Fiancé Season 9 (Photos: Craig Mitchelldyer/Lauren Pusateri/TLC)

    TLC's 90 Day Fiancé has no shortage of culturally diverse cast members, but its casting director wants to go even further and feature a wider range of people on the hit reality series.

    90 Day Fiancé, which features Americans who are in long-distance relationships with individuals from other countries, follows the couples' journeys as they bring their partner to the U.S. on a K-1 fiancé visa. Per the terms of the visa, the couple must marry within 90 days of the international partner's arrival in America. The time constraint and struggles that come with cultural differences and language barriers make for such an entertaining show that the network has released a seemingly never-ending slew of 90 Day spinoffs, including The Other Way, Before the 90 Days, The Single Life, and Pillow Talk.

    Brooklyn Bagwell, a casting director for 90 Day Fiancé, told Variety that when it comes to getting creative in showcasing immigration love stories, the franchise is "just getting started." She revealed that the casting department on the show actively seeks "loud, captivating, relatable characters" to help create the franchise's iconic "fish-out-of-water moments" and "tension points."

    But Bagwell also believes an "eclectic, diverse cast" is essential to the show's success. With this in mind, she revealed that featuring "a transgender story is high on the list" of priorities for the franchise.

    "We would love to find a Deaf couple or a blind couple," Bagwell continued. "We'd love to find a teenager or an extremely visual couple, like two very tall people, or an octogenarian dating an octogenarian."

    "It's really, really, really important to us to feature all types of couples," she added. "Looking at all of the countries and states we haven’t featured yet, and different types of characters we haven’t featured yet, I feel like this show has the potential to go on for another 10-plus seasons."

    New episodes of 90 Day Fiancé air Sundays at 8:00 PM ET on TLC and Discovery+.

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    Kirstie Renae is a writer, blogger, and Austin-based actress with a penchant for binge-watching TV with her dogs. Follow her on Twitter @KirstieRenae.

    TOPICS: 90 Day Fiancé, Discovery+, TLC, 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days, 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way, 90 Day: The Single Life