It's Official! Emily Maynard Is the Next Bachelorette

ABC casts a single mother for the first time. But what took so long?

Finally, Emily Maynard has a commitment!

No, not to a man or anything, but maybe that'll come next.

ABC has officially announced that the single mother (whose relationship with recent Bachelor Brad Womack ended) will be the next Bachelorette.

So, since this casting has been rumored (and confirmed by our sources) for weeks, what took so long for ABC to put a ring on it?

According to sources, Bachelor producers have wanted—and heavily courted—Emily since the very beginning of the casting process. However, the West Virginia mom was a bit trepidacious at first, and even after she said yes, the network did not sign off on Emily's casting until this week.

Production on the show's eighth installment is expected to begin soon, and air this spring.

Chris Harrison recently told us of Emily: "I'm hearing the same rumors, if those rumors are true I will be over the moon excited. If they are true, I don't know if they're true, but I've heard the same thing and man, I hope it's true."

On the fifteenth season of The Bachelor, Brad Womack proposed to Emily and she had prepared to move to Austin with her 6-year-old daughter, but the relationship ended. Now she'll have her pick of 25 men. Better luck this time, Emily!