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Dancing With the Stars<\/a> season 35 may be a few months away, but executives are working on \u201cevery single part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re deep into it,\u201d executive producer and casting head Deena Katz<\/strong> told The Hollywood Reporter<\/a> on Sunday, April 26. \u201cWe\u2019re already deep into casting, we\u2019re talking themes \u2014 we\u2019re talking everything.\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier this month, The Traitors and Love Island UK alum Maura Higgins<\/strong> was revealed as one of the celebrities<\/a> competing on season 35, along with Summer House\u2019s Ciara Miller.<\/strong> In Katz\u2019s eyes, Higgins \u201cliterally manifested\u201d her spot in the competition show.<\/p>\n \u201cShe texts me every time she\u2019s coming to L.A. She wants to have lunch. She\u2019s been dying to do the show, and she\u2019s fantastic. She\u2019s great television. She\u2019s funny. She\u2019s entertaining,\u201d Katz said. \u201c[Maura] is exactly what our show is, and she\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Maura Higgins Says \u2018Absolutely Not\u2019 to Starring on \u2018The Bachelorette\u2019: \u2018I Don\u2019t Want a Man\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n Katz noted that Higgins is \u201cone of those people\u201d that showrunner Conrad Green<\/strong> \u201cis going to love\u201d because \u201cyou\u2019re not sure what she\u2019s going to say at any moment on live television.\u201d Green, for his part, agreed.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s so authentic, and gorgeous and likable,\u201d Green said. \u201cI mean, likable goes a long way.\u201d<\/p>\n As for Miller, Katz noted that her casting came at the right moment amid the Bravo scandal<\/a> involving BFF Amanda Batula <\/strong>and ex West Wilson.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI already knew Ciara. She was on Traitors, and she\u2019s wonderful. She\u2019s stunning, she\u2019s gorgeous; she\u2019s all these things,\u201d Katz said. \u201cAnd 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Katz explained that Miller\u2019s connection to performing runs deep. \u201cWhat we didn\u2019t know is in [Ciara\u2019s] grandmother\u2019s 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,\u201d Katz said. \u201cShe had this kind of passion and wanted to do this kind of thing as a young kid. It\u2019s so great, full circle, to be able to give her this [opportunity] at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n