DWTS Bosses on Ciara, Maura Season 35 Casting, Next Pro Spinoff, Emmys

Season 34 of Dancing With the Stars was a moment in itself, but as Emmy season picks up and the show finds itself vying for awards recognition, the road to season 35 is already being laid out. 

“We’re deep into it,” executive producer and casting head Deena Katz tells The Hollywood Reporter of her plans for the forthcoming installment at an Emmys FYC event on Sunday in Hollywood. “We’re already deep into casting, we’re talking themes — we’re talking everything.”

Sunday’s event, held at the Dolby Theatre, allowed attendees to learn more about the creative processes that mold Dancing With the Stars. The season 34 finale earned the show’s highest ratings in a decade, and they’re ready to continue that momentum with further acknowledgment from the Television Academy.

The reality show historically earns craft nominations, though it’s been 10 years since Dancing With the Stars earned a coveted nod in the reality competition program category. Shows like RuPaul’s Drag Race and The Traitors (which Katz co-exec produces and casts for) have dominated the unscripted landscape in the past decade, but with its newfound success, showrunner Conrad Green and Katz are hopeful Emmys voters will recognize the blood, sweat and tears that feed into creating a two-hour-long live show for 11 weeks at a time. 

“I think the Emmy voters understand and appreciate that there’s very little like this on television anymore apart from those big award shows,” Green explains. “There’s very little production of this level on television, certainly not routinely, week after week. For comedy, you’ve got Saturday Night Live; for dancing and entertainment, you’ve got Dancing With the Stars. It’s a similar process: It’s a weekly turnaround where you have to hit that excellence every time.”

The professional dancers put on a dazzling performance on Sunday, pinpointing their strengths as performers and giving a tease of what fans tune in to see every Tuesday night as the main season airs.

A Q&A panel led by DWTS alumni and Love Island host Ariana Madix followed the show, where the series’ strongpoints were highlighted, including its ability to foster community each and every week with viewers, which sets it apart from other reality shows that don’t utilize a live viewing (and voting) model.

As for plans for season 35, Katz said they’re in the midst of working on “every single part of it.” Part of those plans were unveiled at Hulu’s Get Real House 2026, with The Traitors runner-up Maura Higgins and Summer House star Ciara Miller announced as the first two celebrities boarding the 2026 Dancing season. 

Higgins previously told THR she’d love to compete on the ABC show, with Katz reiterating that sentiment. “Maura has literally manifested this. She texts me every time she’s coming to L.A. She wants to have lunch. She’s been dying to do the show, and she’s fantastic. She’s great television. She’s funny. She’s entertaining,” she says.

“[Maura] is exactly what our show is, and she’s having a moment right now, so that was a no brainer. And knowing what was going to happen with Traitors and seeing the buzz about her, she was fantastic,” Katz adds of tapping her for the show. “She’d be one of those people that Conrad is going to love that you’re not sure what she’s going to say at any moment on live television.”

Green agrees, adding, “She’s so authentic, and gorgeous and likable. I mean, likable goes a long way.” 

Bravo darling Miller “was a really of the moment” casting choice, Katz explains, referring to the ongoing Summer House scandal that has plagued her personal life. Miller’s ex-boyfriend and best friend, West Wilson and Amanda Batula, recently revealed they are now dating, creating a major scandal in the Bravosphere. 

“I already knew Ciara. She was on Traitors, and she’s wonderful. She’s stunning, she’s gorgeous; she’s all these things,” Katz says. “And then the stuff that happened to her, it was a really of the moment thing that we all felt like it was the right time. We really wanted her on the show, but it was also the right time to announce her.”

Miller’s casting mirrors that of Madix, who was offered the opportunity to appear on Dancing after she was also caught in the crossfire of a Bravo scandal, better known as Scandoval. Miller and Madix’s castings were not, and will not, be the only timely castings for the ballroom show, though Green explains the opportunity to compete on the series can mark a new positive pathway for Miller.

“Sometimes you have challenges in your life, but you always have something that could make it better,” he says. “[DWTS] could heal, as in she’s so excited about the idea of doing it, taking on that challenge, being able to focus on something positive, a new skill in her life, a new thing.”

Katz also shared a sweet story about how Miller joining Dancing serves as a full-circle moment in her life. 

“What we didn’t know is in [Ciara’s] grandmother’s house in North Carolina, that she just bought, there was a room where she used to do MTV videos pretending she was going to be an MTV Veejay,” Katz shares. “She had this kind of passion and wanted to do this kind of thing as a young kid. It’s so great, full circle, to be able to give her this [opportunity] at this time.”

While there’s been no word on which pro dancers are returning for season 35, the next artist joining the cast will be revealed this summer with the addition of the show’s new extension, Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro. Green confirms that the winner “is secretly in the bank,” and that the spinoff will pull the curtain on what it really takes to be a pro dancer.

“[The Next Pro shows] just how many different skills you need to be a pro on Dancing With the Stars. Just being a good ballroom or Latin dancer is the basics,” he says, continuing, “But you have to be able to do group dancing, choreograph, manage difficult people, manage time pressure, format a dance and choreograph for a one-minute routine that’s got moments that might get picked up on social media that might make your couple pop.” 

The DWTS spinoff was a priority for both Katz and Green because, at the core of the series, Green explains, is the pro slate.     

“If you’re a dancer, this is probably the best gig in the world, if you want to be known for what you do and have a creative outlet where you’re at the center of it,” Green adds. “And one big thing for me coming back to the show is refocusing our energy on making the dancer the center of this, because they are the creative hub of the show. There’s a huge creative team around them who are super talented, but it’s them at the core of it with their choreography, with their passion, with their patience, that drive the whole enterprise.”

Viewers will have to wait just a bit longer until the full cast list for season 35 is revealed, but until then, buzz for the series continues to grow as the Next Pro approaches and the first-ever Dancing With the Stars Con sashays to Palm Springs in late July.

But before that, Emmys voters will decide if the virality of season 34 deems Dancing awards worthy.

“There’s no reality show that’s as real as Dancing With the Stars,” judge Derek Hough said during the panel on Sunday. “Let’s get that Emmy!”