The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Begins Life After Lisa Vanderpump

As it begins its tenth season tonight, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills enters uncharted territory. After years of playing the puppet-master to her wealthy friends and frenemies, Lisa Vanderpump — restaurateur, animal collector, and posh lady about town — suffered an all-against-one pile-on last season, leading her to effectively divorce herself from the group and, ultimately, the show itself. Personal relationships aside, this isn't exactly a tragedy for Lisa. After all, she still has the spinoff that bears her name, Vanderpump Rules, to fall back on. But for the show she starred on for nine seasons, the prospect of moving on without the woman whose tagline once read "Throw me to the wolves, and I shall return leading the pack" has to be daunting.

Lisa Vanderpump gave RHOBH a focal point around which to revolve. Whether she was engaging in a cold war with former cast member Yolanda Hadid, manipulating her friendship with Kyle Richards, or tormenting poor overmatched Dorit Kemsley, Lisa was always good for relationship-based intrigue. Without her, the show will have to establish a new center. Whether any of the remaining ladies are up to the task remains to be seen, but some would seem to be beter equipped than others. We can probably remove Lisa Rinna, Dorit Kemsley, and Teddi Mellencamp Arroyave from contention. All three are valuable as acolytes or antagonists, but it's hard to imagine any of them at the center. Rinna is too flaky, and Dorit and Teddi aren't likeable enough. Ditto rookir Garcelle Beauvais, who will almost certainly spend her first season just making inroads into the group, rather than leading it. So who's left?

Kyle Richards has the feel of a longtime vice-president who finally has a clear path to the top of the ticket. Although she was the one loudly rending her garments last season about how tormented she was by the loss of Lisa's friendship, Kyle has always been waiting to All About Eve this show out from under her. The problem with Kyle is… do fans like her enough to elevate her to leading lady status? She's always come across as low-grade phony. In fact, the most genuine she's ever seemed was when she tried to defend staying friends with Lisa even though she was often manipulated by her. The other women thought she was crazy, but it was the rare moment Kyle chose being real over being liked.

In many ways, Erika Girardi (a.k.a. Erika Jayne) would seem to be the natural successor to LVP. Ever since her debut in Season 6, she's had the show's fans — and most of the housewives — wrapped around her finger. She entered with an immediate axe to grind against Lisa — one which likely stemmed from her pre-show friendship with Yolanda — and for the last four seasons, she has systematically worked to dismantle Lisa's standing and draw the other women to her side. With Lisa gone, Erika has finally gotten what she's wanted: a kingdom without LVP on the throne. But from what we saw in the latter half of last season, Queen Bee status may not be what Erika is interested in. Once Lisa absented herself from the group, Erika seemed to spend most of her screen time being bored by the rest of the ladies' hero worship and irritated every time she got sucked into their petty squabbles. This may seem like a natural reaction, but petty squabbles are the bedrock upon which the Real Housewives franchise sits, and if you're not interested, you might as well follow LVP out the door.

Then there's Denise Richards, who joined the cast last season and quickly became a fan favorite. While everybody else was wrapped up in the "Vanderpump Dogs" debacle, Denise held back, had a cool cliffside wedding to her hot husband, endured the Malibu wildfires, and generally seemed like the cool, blunt, sexually adventurous woman that Erika has always wanted everybody to think she is. At the end of last season, it seemed entirely possible that Denise could ascend to the top echelon of the show in her second season.

Between then and now, all hell broke loose. In January, rumors emerged that Denise was engaged in an affair with former RHOBH cast member Brandi Glanville, who had appeared as a guest on last season as Denise's friend. Rumor has it that the alleged affair (and Denise's denials of it), are the source of much drama on the upcoming Season 10. The trailer appears to confirm this, as well as other rumors that each of the other housewives align against Denise this season. Whether this is due to bad behavior on Denise's part or just the existing housewives teaming up to bully a suddenly popular co-star — a thing that happens a lot on these shows — the end result is that Denise will only be taking Lisa Vanderpump's place in the sense that she will be fighting back against basically everybody this season.

For better or for worse, the bottom line is that there isn't going to be another Lisa Vanderpump, just like there hasn't been another Kim Richards or another Brandi or another Taylor Armstrong. As much as Housewives casts tend to break down into familiar types, some stars are irreplaceable. Who could be as imperious, slightly ridiculous, but still undeniably glamorous and winning as Lisa? Certainly they wouldn't own swans or be psychotically obsessed with the color pink or be able to twist Kyle Richards around their little finger. That doesn't mean this is the end of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills; just a new beginning without her.

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills returns with its Season 10 premiere tonight at 8:00 PM ET on Bravo.

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Joe Reid is the senior writer at Primetimer and co-host of the This Had Oscar Buzz podcast. His work has appeared in Decider, NPR, HuffPost, The Atlantic, Slate, Polygon, Vanity Fair, Vulture, The A.V. Club and more.