Dancing With the Stars season 35 may be a few months away, but executives are working on “every single part of it.”
“We’re deep into it,” executive producer and casting head Deena Katz told The Hollywood Reporter on Sunday, April 26. “We’re already deep into casting, we’re talking themes — we’re talking everything.”
Earlier this month, The Traitors and Love Island UK alum Maura Higgins was revealed as one of the celebrities competing on season 35, along with Summer House’s Ciara Miller. In Katz’s eyes, Higgins “literally manifested” her spot in the competition show.
“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,” Katz said. “[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.”
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Katz noted that Higgins is “one of those people” that showrunner Conrad Green “is going to love” because “you’re not sure what she’s going to say at any moment on live television.” Green, for his part, agreed.
“She’s so authentic, and gorgeous and likable,” Green said. “I mean, likable goes a long way.”
As for Miller, Katz noted that her casting came at the right moment amid the Bravo scandal involving BFF Amanda Batula and ex West Wilson.
“I already knew Ciara. She was on Traitors, and she’s wonderful. She’s stunning, she’s gorgeous; she’s all these things,” Katz said. “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.”
Katz explained that Miller’s connection to performing runs deep. “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 said. “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.”
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Green, meanwhile, thinks the show could be a positive force in Miller’s life as the Summer House drama continues to unfold.
“Sometimes you have challenges in your life, but you always have something that could make it better,” he said. “[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.”
No further celebrity contestants have been revealed at this time, nor has the pro cast been announced — including whoever comes out on top of the new spinoff Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro. Green hinted that the winner of the series “is secretly in the bank.”
“[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 said. “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.”
Dancing With the Stars will premiere this fall on ABC and Disney+, streaming the next day on Hulu.
