Credit: ABCThe ballroom is officially back. Season 35 of Dancing with the Stars is confirmed!
Last season set a bar that will be hard to clear. The cast was genuinely stacked, mixing reality television, Olympic athletes, social media, and legacy Hollywood names, and it produced one of the most talked-about runs the show has had in years. Whitney Leavitt, Robert Irwin, Alix Earle, Jordan Chiles, Dylan Efron, Jen Affleck, and Elaine Hendrix all pulled in their own audiences, and the voting got genuinely heated week to week.
That is the season this one has to follow.
Dancing With The Stars returns to ABC for its 35th season, and Good Morning America has now revealed the full cast along with their professional partners. There are Olympic medalists, a celebrity chef, a Jimmy Kimmel sidekick, and multiple actors who built careers on dance movies.
There is also a name that is going to get a lot of attention immediately, and it is not who you would expect.
The Full Season 35 ‘Dancing with the Stars’ Cast and Partners
Here is every celebrity and their professional partner:
- Tatyana Ali (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air) and Jan Ravnik
- Tyler Cameron (The Bachelorette) and Sharna Burgess
- Giada De Laurentiis (celebrity chef) and Alan Bersten
- Jenna Dewan (Step Up) and Val Chmerkovskiy
- Ezra Frech (Paralympic gold medalist) and Daniella Karagach
- Amber Glenn (gold medalist figure skater) and Pasha Pashkov
- Taylor Hanson (Hanson) and Britt Stewart
- Maura Higgins (Love Island UK) and Mark Ballas
- Conner Leavitt (The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives) and Adele Zaikman
- Ciara Miller (Summer House) and Brandon Armstrong
- Sarah Jane Nader (Love Thy Nader) and Hailey Bills
- Jackson Olson (Savannah Bananas) and Emma Slater
- Guillermo Rodriguez (Jimmy Kimmel Live!) and Witney Carson
- Harry Shum Jr. (Glee, Grey’s Anatomy) and Jenna Johnson
- Julia Stiles (Save The Last Dance) and Ezra Sosa
- Connor Wood (social media personality) and Rylee Arnold
The Conner Leavitt Storyline
This is the most interesting casting decision on the list.
Conner Leavitt joins the cast one season after his wife, Whitney Leavitt, competed. Whitney was one of the most talked-about contestants of the season, and plenty of fans wanted to see her take home the mirrorball.
That sets up a genuinely unusual dynamic:
- He arrives with a built-in fanbase that already knows the family
- He also arrives with an expectation attached, since a portion of the audience feels Whitney was owed a win
- Whitney has firsthand experience with the rehearsal schedule, the judging, and the voting cycle, which is a real advantage
- If he wins, the mirrorball still ends up in that household, which is exactly the story fans are already writing
He Is Not the Only One With Family History on ‘Dancing with the Stars’
The Leavitts are not the only returning family name.
Sarah Jane Nader joins the cast after her sister competed on season 33. That gives this season two contestants following a sibling or spouse into the ballroom, which is unusual for a single cast.
Family connections tend to help early in a season. Voters already recognize the name, and there is a built-in narrative for the show to lean into during packages.
The Dance Movie Contingent
This might be the most experienced cast the show has assembled in terms of actual on-screen dancing.
Three cast members built major credits on dance films:
- Julia Stiles starred in Save The Last Dance
- Jenna Dewan came out of the Step Up franchise
- Harry Shum Jr. also has Step Up films on his résumé, along with Glee
That is a real factor. Film choreography is not ballroom, and learning a Viennese waltz is different from hitting marks for a camera. But comfort with movement, learning routines quickly, and performing under pressure all transfer.
Expect the early elimination odds to skew heavily against everyone else.
The Athletes
Two medalists are competing this season, and both come from disciplines that translate well.
- Amber Glenn, a gold medalist figure skater
- Ezra Frech, Paralympic gold medalist
Figure skaters have historically performed extremely well on this show. Ice dance and ballroom share vocabulary, posture, and partnering technique, and Glenn arrives with an obvious head start.
The Wild Cards
Every season needs contestants nobody can predict, and this cast has several.
- Giada De Laurentiis is the first celebrity chef in a while, and food personalities tend to bring loyal, motivated voting bases
- Guillermo Rodriguez from Jimmy Kimmel Live! is the comedy pick, and those contestants don’t frequently outlast better dancers
- Jackson Olson comes from the Savannah Bananas, a team built entirely around performance and choreography, so he may be far better prepared than his bio suggests
- Taylor Hanson brings decades of stage experience and a fanbase that has been showing up since “MmmBop”
When Season 35 of ‘Dancing with the Stars’ Premieres
Mark the calendar.
- Two-night premiere: Tuesday, September 15 and Wednesday, September 16
- Time: 8:00 p.m. ET
- Where: ABC and Disney+
- Streaming: next day on Hulu
The Disney+ simulcast has changed how people watch this show over the past few seasons, and a two-night premiere gives the cast twice the exposure before the first elimination.
So Will It Beat Last Season
Honestly, it might.
Last season was won on star power and a handful of genuinely great dancers. This one has more actual dance experience in the cast, two Olympic-caliber athletes, a chef with a built-in audience, and a spouse storyline that writes itself.
The thing last season had that this one has to build is chemistry, and that never shows up in a cast announcement.
Voting starts September 15. Pick your side early.
