Dancing With the Stars Season 35:5 Key Details Fans Need to Know

Dancing With the Stars Season 35 is almost here, and the show’s longtime hosts and judges just gave fans a first look at what to expect. On Tuesday, Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli, Derek Hough, Julianne Hough and Alfonso Ribeiro appeared together on “Good Morning America” to preview the new season.

The appearance confirmed several important details. Dancing With the Stars Season 35 will keep its familiar lineup of hosts and judges, but the team says this year’s competition will feel bigger and more energetic than past seasons. The full celebrity cast will be revealed on Wednesday, Sept. 2, during a special GMA broadcast.

Below is everything confirmed so far about Dancing With the Stars Season 35, including the premiere date, the returning hosts and judges, the celebrities announced so far, and what makes this milestone season different.

What Happened?

On Sept. 1, 2026, the cast of returning judges and hosts sat down together on “Good Morning America” to talk about the upcoming season. It was the first joint appearance of the group ahead of the new season’s launch.

Derek Hough, who judges the show and once competed as a professional dancer, said the new season has a different feel than previous years. “You can expect what you know and love about ‘Dancing With the Stars’ but also an energized show,” Hough said on the show. “We have so much momentum. The cast is incredible. The pros are energized. It’s going to be an incredible season. I cannot wait.”

Host Alfonso Ribeiro also spoke about what makes the show special heading into this milestone run. He pointed to the pairing of celebrities with professional dancers as the heart of the series. Meanwhile, co-host Julianne Hough teased that fans should watch for a theme night built around fashion. “The fashion is going to be really fun with one specific theme night,” she said. “For me at least, I’m very excited.”

Meet the Hosts and Judges Returning for Dancing With the Stars season 35

The judging panel for Dancing With the Stars Season 35 is staying the same as it has been in recent years. Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli will all return to score the celebrity and professional dancer pairs each week.

Inaba and Tonioli hold a unique distinction. They have been part of the judges’ panel for every single season of the show, all the way back to Season 1. That means they have watched the series grow from a small summer replacement show into one of the longest-running competition programs on American television.

Derek Hough’s history with the show goes back even further in a different role. He first joined “Dancing With the Stars” two decades ago as a professional dancer, partnering with celebrities on the dance floor himself. He later moved to the judges’ table starting in Season 29, bringing a dancer’s eye to how he scores each week’s performances.

On the hosting side, Alfonso Ribeiro will once again lead the show, with Julianne Hough returning as his co-host. Ribeiro, who won Season 19 of the show as a celebrity contestant, has hosted alongside Hough for several seasons now. Julianne Hough, like her brother Derek, also has deep roots in the franchise. She competed as a professional dancer on the show in its early years and later served as a judge before stepping into the co-hosting chair.

Dancing With the Stars Season 35 Premiere Date and Schedule

Dancing With the Stars Season 35 will kick off with two back-to-back episodes. The season premieres on Tuesday, Sept. 15, followed by a second new episode on Wednesday, Sept. 16. Both episodes air at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

The season will also stream on Disney+, marking the fourth season in a row that new episodes have aired live on both ABC and Disney+ at the same time. Episodes will then become available to stream on Hulu the following day, giving viewers several ways to watch each week.

This live, same-day release on two platforms has become a signature part of how the show reaches its audience. It lets traditional television viewers and streaming viewers watch the competition unfold together, rather than waiting for episodes to be added to a streaming library later.

The Celebrity Cast Revealed So Far

While the complete cast of Dancing With the Stars Season 35 will not be confirmed until Sept. 2, a handful of contestants have already been announced in the months leading up to the premiere.

Reality television personalities Maura Higgins and Ciara Miller were the first two celebrities confirmed for the season, announced in April during a Hulu event. Higgins is known for her breakout run on “The Traitors” and for appearing on “Love Island UK,” while Miller is known for her role on Bravo’s “Summer House.”

Jackson Olson, a second baseman for the Savannah Bananas, was the third celebrity confirmed for the cast. The Savannah Bananas are a popular baseball entertainment team known for mixing sports with showmanship, so Olson’s fans have said his athletic background could translate well to the ballroom floor. Comedian Guillermo Rodriguez, best known as a longtime sidekick on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” was announced as a fourth cast member.

The rest of the celebrity lineup, along with which professional dancers they will be paired with, will be revealed during Wednesday’s “Good Morning America” broadcast. A new professional dancer will also join the troupe this season. That dancer was selected through the results of a companion series called “Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro,” which had a group of dancers compete for a spot on the main show’s roster of professionals.

Why Dancing With the Stars Season 35 Matters for Fans

Season 35 represents a milestone for the franchise. Because Inaba and Tonioli have judged every single season, this year marks 35 consecutive seasons with at least one original judge still at the table. That kind of continuity is rare for a competition show that has been on the air for two decades.

The season also matters because of how the show has evolved technically. Airing live and at the same time on both ABC and Disney+ means the show can reach both cable subscribers and cord-cutters who rely only on streaming. For casual fans who want to follow along on social media in real time, watching live rather than waiting to stream later has become part of the appeal.

Beyond the format, the personal comments from Hough, Ribeiro and Julianne Hough suggest this cast and pairing lineup has generated real excitement among the people who work closely with the show every season. Their comments about “momentum” and an “energized” cast point to a competition that producers expect will draw strong audience interest once the full cast and dance pairings are revealed.

Background: How Dancing With the Stars Got Here

“Dancing With the Stars” first premiered on ABC in 2005, pairing celebrities with professional ballroom dancers who coach them each week. Contestants perform routines that are scored by a panel of judges and also by viewers, who vote to help decide which pairs continue and which are eliminated.

The show became one of the most popular competition series on American television, known for turning celebrities from very different backgrounds – actors, athletes, musicians and reality TV personalities — into ballroom competitors. Over the years, the judging panel has changed. Longtime judge Len Goodman, a fixture of the show for many years, passed away in 2023, which opened the door for Derek Hough to take on a full-time judging role after previously serving as a guest judge.

In the most recent season, Season 34, wildlife conservationist and television personality Robert Irwin won the competition alongside professional partner Witney Carson. That season aired from September through early December 2025 and, like previous years, featured Ribeiro and Julianne Hough as hosts, with Inaba, Hough and Tonioli judging.

What Happens Next

The next major moment for Dancing With the Stars Season 35 comes on Wednesday, Sept. 2, when the full celebrity cast and their professional dance partners will be announced live on “Good Morning America.” That broadcast airs from 7 to 9 a.m. ET on ABC.

After that announcement, fans will have about two weeks to learn more about the cast before the season officially begins on Sept. 15. Producers have not yet detailed the full list of weekly themes, but Julianne Hough’s comments suggest at least one episode will center on a fashion-focused theme night, a format the show has used in past seasons to spotlight a particular style, era or designer through costumes and choreography.

As with past seasons, the show will run for several weeks, narrowing the field through weekly eliminations based on judges’ scores and viewer votes until a winning celebrity and professional pair are crowned near the end of the season.