After 21 years and 34 seasons, Dancing With the Stars is preparing to welcome its next group of celebrity hoofers to the ballroom. The upcoming installment promises to be a mix of the familiar (returning hosts and judges) and the new (a fresh lineup of stars and one debuting professional dancer).
The episodes will air live simultaneously on both ABC and Disney+, marking the fourth season to do so. While the full cast will be revealed in the coming months, early leaks have already sparked plenty of buzz for the 21-time Emmy-winning reality TV show.
Read on for everything to know about Dancing With the Stars Season 35.
THE CAST
The full roster of celebrity participants and their professional partners will be revealed on Sept. 2 on Good Morning America. That said, there have already been several pre-season announcements. The known Season 35 cast members at this stage are:
- Ciara Miller, Summer House star
- Guillermo Rodriguez, sidekick on Jimmy Kimmel Live
- Jackson Olson, second baseman for the Savannah Bananas
- Maura Higgins, Love Island UK contestant and The Traitors also-ran
THE HOSTS
Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough are returning to their co-hosting roles for Season 35, continuing a partnership that began in 2023 for Season 32. Both have a unique history with the reality show. Ribeiro famously won the competition as a celebrity contestant in Season 19, and Hough previously won two Mirror Ball trophies as a professional dancer in Seasons 4 and 5 before serving as a full-time judge from Seasons 19 to 24 (but not 22).
THE JUDGES
The Season 35 judging panel consists of Derek Hough, his seventh time sitting at the table, and Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli, both of whom have been there from the very beginning. Their fellow original judge, Len Goodman, passed away in 2023.
THE PREMIERE DATE
Dancing With the Stars will premiere in the fall of 2026, sometime after the Sept. 2 announcement of the cast. The last two seasons bowed in mid-September on a Tuesday, so our educated guess is that Season 35 will premiere on Sept. 15. Stay tuned.
THE THEME NIGHTS
The long-running program lives and dies by its theme nights, with last year’s schedule featuring One-Hit Wonders Night, TikTok Night, Disney Night, Dedication Night, and more. Co-executive producer David Ruskey recently told Gold Derby, “Going into the 35th season of the show, I feel like we’ve run the gamut already on themes. There are very few stones left unturned, but there obviously are some out there.”
DWTS: THE NEXT PRO
A brand new pro dancer will be introduced to the roster in Season 35. Their spot is being determined by the results of the spin-off series Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro, which kicks off July 13 on ABC. Reigning Mirror Ball champion Robert Irwin is hosting the new show, with Mark Ballas and Shirley Ballas serving as judges. The 12 pro contestants are: Benjamin Castro, Allen Genkin, Selena Hamilton, Natalie Jolley, Erik Linder, Nina Mayster, Jake Monreal, Briar Nolet, AJ Pritchard, Tristen Sanders, Stephani Sosa, and Adele Zaikman.
