Everything to know about ‘Dancing with the Stars’ Season 31, from its new network to its new producer
“Dancing with the Stars” will be back for a 31st season — with a twist. The long-running series will move to Disney+ from ABC for Season 31. Yup, you read that right. While you process that information, here’s everything to know about the next installment, which will definitely be unlike one we’ve been before.
Is “Dancing with the Stars” returning for Season 31?
Yes, and also Season 32. The show was renewed for a 31st and 32nd season on April 8, so you won’t have to wonder about its status once Season 31 wraps up.
Where is “Dancing with the Stars” airing?
After 16 years and 30 seasons on ABC, “Dancing” will move exclusively to Disney+ starting with Season 31. The news was announced in conjunction with the show’s two-season renewal. “Dancing” will be the first live series to stream on Disney+.
OK, when will “Dancing with the Stars” Season 31 premiere?
No exact date yet, but Season 31 will debut in the fall, likely in mid-September. It will probably still air on Mondays to maintain consistency (the network change is big enough). A bigger question is when Season 32 will air. “Dancing” was reduced to one installment a year starting with Season 28 in 2019, but now that it’s on Disney+ and scheduling and time slots are less of a concern, the show could air its first spring season in 2023 since the truncated “Athletes” season in 2018.
SEE ‘Dancing with the Stars’ shocker: Series moving to Disney+ after 16 years on ABC
Who is in the “Dancing with the Stars” Season 31 cast?
Well, no one yet. Casting hasn’t begun.
When will the “Dancing with the Stars” Season 31 cast be announced?
If the pattern continues, the cast will be announced in mid-to-late August with most, if not all, of them being unveiled on “Good Morning America.”
Which pros will return for “Dancing with the Stars” Season 31?
Also too soon to say. The pros typically don’t find out until the last minute before the cast is announced. But two pros you can safely cross off your list are Season 27 champ Sharna Burgess, who had her first child with with boyfriend and Season 30 partner Brian Austin Green on June 28, and Season 26 champ Jenna Johnson, who is expecting her first child with hubby Val Chmerkovskiy in January. After his elimination last season, two-time champ Chmerkovskiy said Season 30 was “probably” his last. He can, of course, change his mind, and his wife has hinted he will. Johnson has also tried to pitch Chmerkovskiy and former Bachelorette Rachel Lindsay as a pair. Season 28 champ Alan Bersten hopes to return because “‘Dancing with the Stars’ is my dream come true.”
Will Tyra Banks return to host Season 31?
Yes, and she will have a co-host this time: Season 19 champ Alfonso Ribeiro (the two go way back to “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”). Banks’ performance has been polarizing — former host Brooke Burke thinks the supermodel is ill-fitted for the show — so the addition of a beloved former winner with hosting bona fides (Ribeiro replaced Tom Bergeron on “America’s Funniest Home Videos” in 2015) is not surprising.
SEE Confused by ‘Dancing with the Stars” judges’ vote? The ‘tiebreaker’ rule, explained
Will all four judges be back for Season 31?
Yes, Len Goodman, Derek Hough, Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba will all return, marking the second season with this combo behind the judges’ table. After missing Season 29 due to COVID-19 travel restrictions and being replaced by Hough, Goodman returned in Season 30 to make it a four-person panel, which wreaked havoc on the judges’ vote and forced the introduction of a tiebreaker rule that the show and Banks kept failing to properly explain.
What changes will there be in Season 31?
Unknown at the moment, but there will be a new executive producer, who’s actually an old face: Conrad Green, the original executive producer and showrunner who left after Season 18, is expected to return. He will replace Andrew Llinares, the executive producer since the “Athletes” season in 2018, who departed “Dancing” in March. Llinares is most famous (infamous?) for the controversial decision to fire co-hosts Bergeron and Erin Andrews for Banks in 2020 in an attempt to freshen up the show. Bergeron reacted to Llinares’ exit appropriately and calls Green’s impending return the “best decision they’ve made since 2005, when they hired him the first time.”
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