{"id":2442762,"date":"2026-06-03T07:34:47","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T07:34:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2442762"},"modified":"2026-06-03T07:34:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T07:34:47","slug":"dwts-bosses-on-ciara-maura-season-35-casting-next-pro-spinoff-emmys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/dwts-bosses-on-ciara-maura-season-35-casting-next-pro-spinoff-emmys\/","title":{"rendered":"DWTS Bosses on Ciara, Maura Season 35 Casting, Next Pro Spinoff, Emmys"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\tSeason 34 of Dancing With the Stars<\/a> was a moment<\/a> 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019re deep into it,\u201d executive producer and casting head Deena Katz<\/a> tells The Hollywood Reporter of her plans for the forthcoming installment at an Emmys<\/a> FYC<\/a> event on Sunday in Hollywood. \u201cWe\u2019re already deep into casting, we\u2019re talking themes \u2014 we\u2019re talking everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSunday\u2019s 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<\/a> earned the show\u2019s highest ratings<\/a> in a decade, and they\u2019re ready to continue that momentum with further acknowledgment from the Television Academy.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe reality show historically earns craft nominations, though it\u2019s been 10 years since Dancing With the Stars earned a coveted nod in the reality competition program category. Shows like RuPaul\u2019s 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<\/a> 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI think the Emmy voters understand and appreciate that there\u2019s very little like this on television anymore apart from those big award shows,\u201d Green explains. \u201cThere\u2019s very little production of this level on television, certainly not routinely, week after week. For comedy, you\u2019ve got Saturday Night Live; for dancing and entertainment, you\u2019ve got Dancing With the Stars. It\u2019s a similar process: It\u2019s a weekly turnaround where you have to hit that excellence every time.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tDeena Katz and Conrad Green at the Dancing With the Stars FYC event.<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFrank Micelotta\/Disney<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tThe 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. <\/p>\n

\n\tA Q&A panel led by DWTS alumni and Love Island host Ariana Madix followed the show, where the series\u2019 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\u2019t utilize a live viewing (and voting) model.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs for plans for season 35, Katz said they\u2019re in the midst of working on \u201cevery single part of it.\u201d Part of those plans were unveiled at Hulu\u2019s Get Real House 2026, with The Traitors runner-up Maura Higgins<\/a> and Summer House star Ciara Miller<\/a> announced as the first two celebrities<\/a> boarding the 2026 Dancing season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tHiggins previously told THR<\/a> she\u2019d love to compete on the ABC<\/a> show, with Katz reiterating that sentiment. \u201cMaura has literally manifested this. She 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 she says.<\/p>\n

\n\t\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 Katz adds of tapping her for the show. \u201cShe\u2019d be one of those people that Conrad is going to love that you\u2019re not sure what she\u2019s going to say at any moment on live television.\u201d<\/p>\n

Green agrees, adding, \u201cShe\u2019s so authentic, and gorgeous and likable. I mean, likable goes a long way.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tDancing With the Stars FYC performance.<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFrank Micelotta\/Disney<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tBravo darling Miller \u201cwas a really of the moment\u201d casting choice, Katz explains, referring to the ongoing Summer House scandal<\/a> that has plagued her personal life. Miller\u2019s ex-boyfriend and best friend, West Wilson and Amanda Batula, recently revealed they are now dating, creating a major scandal in the Bravosphere.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\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 says. \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

\n\tMiller\u2019s 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<\/a>. Miller and Madix\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cSometimes you have challenges in your life, but you always have something that could make it better,\u201d he says.\u00a0\u201c[DWTS] could heal, as in she\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tKatz also shared a sweet story about how Miller joining Dancing serves as a full-circle moment in her life.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\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 shares. \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

\n\tWhile there\u2019s 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\u2019s new extension, Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro. Green confirms that the winner \u201cis secretly in the bank,\u201d and that the spinoff will pull the curtain on what it really takes to be a pro dancer.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201c[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,\u201d he says, continuing, \u201cBut 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\u2019s got moments that might get picked up on social media that might make your couple pop.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe DWTS spinoff was a priority for both Katz and Green because, at the core of the series, Green explains, is the pro slate. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIf you\u2019re 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\u2019re at the center of it,\u201d Green adds. \u201cAnd 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\u2019s a huge creative team around them who are super talented, but it\u2019s them at the core of it with their choreography, with their passion, with their patience, that drive the whole enterprise.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tViewers 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<\/a> sashays to Palm Springs in late July.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut before that, Emmys voters will decide if the virality of season 34 deems Dancing awards worthy. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere\u2019s no reality show that\u2019s as real as Dancing With the Stars,\u201d judge Derek Hough said during the panel on Sunday. \u201cLet\u2019s get that Emmy!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tDancing With the Stars FYC event.<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFrank Micelotta\/Disney<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.hollywoodreporter.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re deep into it,\u201d executive producer and casting head Deena Katz tells The Hollywood Reporter of her plans […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2442763,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[24120,391505,405811,41508,419332,52216,22034,365518,394917],"class_list":["post-2442762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-abc","tag-ciara-miller","tag-conrad-green","tag-dancing-with-the-stars","tag-deena-katz","tag-emmys","tag-events","tag-fyc","tag-maura-higgins"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/DWTS-Bosses-on-Ciara-Maura-Season-35-Casting-Next-Pro-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2442762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2442762"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2442762\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2442764,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2442762\/revisions\/2442764"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2442763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2442762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2442762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2442762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}