Andy Cohen Promises RHONY : Legacy Will Be the 'Best of All Possible Worlds for RHONY Fans'

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Andy Cohen sees The Real Housewives of New York: Legacy as a chance for Housewives fans to stay in touch with their longtime favorites.

The Housewives producer, 54, tells PEOPLE exclusively that the pending show's concept is designed so the franchise can move forward without abandoning the longstanding NY women.

During a conversation at BravoCon 2022, Cohen applauded Bravo's outline for the series, which will allow some true legacy cast members to shine, while a whole new group of New York housewives will continue the RHONY series.

"I think that our plan is actually brilliant because we're allowing people to not only get an entirely new reboot of The Real Housewives of New York, where we're going to be telling new stories outside of this little postage stamp area on the Upper East Side from these women that we've been following for however many years," he says.

"But we're also going to be able to still be with the women that we love on whatever the legacy show is called," Cohen continues. "And so, I think it's the best of all possible worlds for RHONY fans."

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Real Housewives of New York City premiered March 4, 2008, and starred Jill Zarin, Bethenny Frankel, Luann de Lesseps, Alex McCord, Ramona Singer.

The concept for a Legacy spin-off was revealed earlier this year in March, when Cohen also announced that the upcoming season of RHONY would be "rebooting and recasting" the series with hopes of securing a more diverse group of women. The still-unnamed Legacy series has yet to be formally announced.

At the time, the Watch What Happens Live host and Housewives executive producer said that RHONY was at a "crossroads."

"We've spent a lot of time figuring out where to go," he told Variety. "And the plan that we've come up with, I think, is a real gift to the fans."

For Legacy, he emphasized that the team wanted to "get it right" when it came to casting, keeping mum on the new series' details. "I want this to succeed," he said. "It's too important to too many people."

While Cohen remained quiet on the upcoming Legacy series, it didn't stop Housewives from talking.

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In July, Zarin said things "could be very ugly" if both she and Dorinda Medley were asked to be part of the cast considering drama that went down between the two on the second season of Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip.

Medley — who hosted the RHUGT cast at her Berkshires estate, Blue Stone Manor — had called Zarin "thirsty" for the spotlight.

"What did you just see for a week?" Zarin asked during an interview with Entertainment Tonight at the time. "Could you imagine that for four months?"

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When asked about who she'd like to see in the Legacy cast, Zarin told ET, "Honestly, it doesn't matter what I think."

She added, "I think a Legacy show will be great to show where all the girls are, so many years later and who's evolved and who hasn't and fights are the same, girls are the same. I always say nothing happens that didn't happen in kindergarten. It's all the same."

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BravoCon 2022 is taking place through Sunday at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City.