Dancing with the Stars season 35 has its dates locked: the full celebrity cast is revealed Wednesday, September 2 on Good Morning America, and the season opens with a two-night premiere on Tuesday, September 15 and Wednesday, September 16 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and Disney+, streaming next-day on Hulu. Four celebrities are already confirmed — including Jimmy Kimmel’s sidekick Guillermo Rodriguez and a Savannah Bananas star — while the rumor mill has landed on names as big as Jenna Dewan and Julia Stiles. The other headline: pro dancer Sharna Burgess is back after five years away. Here’s everything known heading into the reveal.
Key Takeaways
- The full cast is revealed Wednesday, September 2 on Good Morning America, ahead of a two-night premiere September 15 and 16 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and Disney+.
- Four celebrities are confirmed: Maura Higgins, Ciara Miller, Savannah Bananas second baseman Jackson Olson, and Guillermo Rodriguez, already paired with two-time champion Witney Carson.
- Carson is competing while pregnant with her third child — "if I can do both and the baby is healthy, then I am going to try and do it all."
- Sharna Burgess returns for her 15th season as a pro, her first since season 30 in 2021.
The confirmed four (so far)
Per the Palm Beach Post and ABC News, ABC has officially announced:
- Maura Higgins — the Love Island UK alum turned breakout star of The Traitors, announced back in April. She told StyleCaster her dream partner is Mark Ballas, her Traitors castmate: “I feel like he’d be able to handle me.”
- Ciara Miller — the Summer House star and Love Island USA: Aftersun host, who says she’s “determined to put up a good fight.”
- Jackson Olson — second baseman for the viral Savannah Bananas. “Whoever my partner is, I hope you’re ready to make a million videos with me,” he wrote on Instagram, per StyleCaster.
- Guillermo Rodriguez — the beloved Jimmy Kimmel Live! personality, already paired with two-time champion Witney Carson.
The Rodriguez–Carson pairing comes with a twist: Carson is pregnant with her third child and competing anyway. “I love dance. I love to compete… and I want to grow my family. So if I can do both and the baby is healthy, then I am going to try and do it all, because women are amazing,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. Her partner’s reaction, as Carson recounted to Derek Hough, per StyleCaster: Guillermo was “relieved because that means you’re going to take a lot of breaks for food.”
The rumor board: Dewan, Stiles, and a Fresh Prince reunion
The unconfirmed names circulating ahead of September 2, per the Palm Beach Post and StyleCaster:
- Jenna Dewan — the Step Up star and former Janet Jackson backup dancer, reported by Us Weekly. If true, expect immediate “ringer” discourse: she’s danced professionally for decades.
- Julia Stiles — the 10 Things I Hate About You and Save the Last Dance actress, reported by TMZ. Her casting would be a nostalgia event for everyone who learned choreography from a 2001 teen movie.
- Tatyana Ali — the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air alum, per TMZ, which would reunite her with co-host and former co-star Alfonso Ribeiro.
- Tyler Cameron — the Bachelor Nation favorite, per Us Weekly, who already finished second on Fox’s The Real Dirty Dancing.
- Conner Leavitt — husband of last season’s semifinalist Whitney Leavitt of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, per Us Weekly.
- Deeper-cut fan guesses, per the Palm Beach Post’s roundup of Reddit and outlet speculation: Harry Shum Jr., Giada De Laurentiis, Olympic skater Amber Glenn, Taylor Hanson, Love Island USA’s Nic Vansteenberghe, Paralympian Ezra French, and Sarah Jane Nader.
Treat everything in this section as unconfirmed until GMA says otherwise — DWTS rumor season has burned confident predictions before.
Sharna Burgess is back after five years
The pro-dancer story of the season is Sharna Burgess’s return, announced August 24 on Good Morning America. “I’m back, baby… it feels so good to be coming home,” she said, per ABC News. It’s her 15th season as a pro and her first since season 30 in 2021, when she was partnered with her now-fiancé Brian Austin Green. She won the Mirrorball with Bobby Bones in 2018.
She rejoins a pro roster that StyleCaster expects to include favorites like Val Chmerkovskiy, Daniella Karagach, Jenna Johnson, Alan Bersten, Ezra Sosa, and Britt Stewart — plus Carson. Judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli, and Derek Hough are expected back, with Ribeiro and Julianne Hough hosting, per the Palm Beach Post.
One more pro is being chosen on TV right now
There’s a meta-competition happening before the season even starts: Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro, the spinoff where 12 dancers compete for a spot in season 35’s pro cast. Season 34 champion Robert Irwin hosts, with Mark Ballas and his mother — Strictly Come Dancing head judge Shirley Ballas — as permanent judges, per The Hollywood Reporter. Guest mentors have included Derek Hough, Jenna Johnson, Daniella Karagach, and Carson herself. The finale, airing Monday on ABC, crowns the winner; remaining finalists include ballroom-and-Latin specialist AJ Pritchard, per THR’s elimination tracker.
Why expectations are sky-high
Season 34 was a phenomenon: the show’s 20th-anniversary run was its highest-rated and most-watched season in a decade, per the Palm Beach Post, ending with Robert Irwin lifting the Mirrorball over runner-up Alix Earle. (Earle’s momentum hasn’t slowed — her reality series Earle Meets World hits Netflix September 4, one title among everything else landing on Netflix that month.) The show has also been riding an Emmy nomination for outstanding reality competition program — a category that gets settled at the September 14 Emmys, the night before the premiere. Season 35’s cast reveal will show whether ABC can keep that TikTok-era revival going.
What happens next
September 2: full cast reveal on GMA, with partner pairings to follow. September 15–16: the two-night premiere at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and Disney+ (Hulu next day). Between now and then, watch for three things — whether the Dewan and Stiles rumors hold up, which Next Pro winner joins the pro roster, and who gets paired with Burgess in her comeback season. If season 34’s trajectory repeats, the premiere-week TikTok numbers will tell you the winner’s lane before the judges do.
Competition TV is stacked in that same window: Drag Race UK’s eighth season starts in early September, so the ballroom won’t have the month to itself.
Quick poll
Which rumored name do you most want on the season 35 cast?
All four are still unconfirmed — they come from Us Weekly and TMZ reports collected by the Palm Beach Post and StyleCaster. GMA settles it September 2.
FAQ
When does Dancing with the Stars season 35 premiere? It’s a two-night premiere: Tuesday, September 15 and Wednesday, September 16, 2026, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and Disney+, streaming next day on Hulu.
When is the full DWTS season 35 cast announced? Wednesday, September 2 on Good Morning America, per ABC News and the Palm Beach Post.
Who is confirmed for DWTS season 35 so far? Maura Higgins, Ciara Miller, Savannah Bananas star Jackson Olson, and Guillermo Rodriguez, who is partnered with Witney Carson.
Is Sharna Burgess coming back to DWTS? Yes — she announced her return on GMA for her 15th season as a pro, her first since 2021. She won the Mirrorball with Bobby Bones in 2018.
