Article Summary: ABC revealed the complete Dancing With the Stars Season 35 cast on Good Morning America, naming all 16 celebrities and their professional partners at once. Julia Stiles, Jenna Dewan, Giada De Laurentiis and two gold medalists are in. Here is every pairing, the premiere date, and the storylines already forming.
Sixteen couples. One Olympic gold medalist, one Paralympic gold medalist, and a Savannah Bananas second baseman. ABC revealed the whole board Wednesday morning, and the season starts in under two weeks.
The Dancing With the Stars Season 35 cast was announced on September 2, 2026, live on Good Morning America. All 16 celebrities and their professional partners were revealed at once. The season opens with a two-night premiere on Tuesday, September 15 and Wednesday, September 16, airing at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and Disney+.
Who Is on Dancing With the Stars 2026?
Notably, the lineup runs across acting, sport, food, music and reality television. Julia Stiles, Jenna Dewan, Tatyana Ali and Harry Shum Jr. bring the scripted-television audience. Giada De Laurentiis arrives from Food Network, and Taylor Hanson from the band that has toured for three decades.
Two athletes also anchor the sport side. Amber Glenn is an Olympic gold medal figure skater. Ezra Frech won Paralympic gold in track and field.
Reality television then supplies the rest. Maura Higgins comes from Love Island UK and The Traitors. Ciara Miller arrives from Summer House and Tyler Cameron from The Bachelorette. Conner Leavitt joins from The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. Sarah Jane Nader, of Love Thy Nader, is the sister of Brooks Nader, who competed in Season 33.
Rounding it out: Jackson Olson, a Savannah Bananas second baseman, podcaster Connor Wood, and Guillermo Rodriguez of Jimmy Kimmel Live!.
What Are the DWTS Celebrity Pairings?
All 16 partnerships were confirmed on air rather than trickled out, which is a change from previous seasons. Here is the full board:
- Julia Stiles & Ezra Sosa
- Jenna Dewan & Val Chmerkovskiy
- Giada De Laurentiis & Alan Bersten
- Harry Shum Jr. & Jenna Johnson
- Tatyana Ali & Jan Ravnik
- Taylor Hanson & Britt Stewart
- Amber Glenn & Pasha Pashkov
- Ezra Frech & Daniella Karagach
- Maura Higgins & Mark Ballas
- Ciara Miller & Brandon Armstrong
- Tyler Cameron & Sharna Burgess
- Conner Leavitt & Adele Zaikman
- Sarah Jane Nader & Hailey Bills
- Jackson Olson & Emma Slater
- Connor Wood & Rylee Arnold
- Guillermo Rodriguez & Witney Carson
The Pairings Worth Circling
However, three stand out immediately. Sharna Burgess returns to competition for the first time since Season 30, drawn against Tyler Cameron. Adele Zaikman also makes her debut as a pro. She won the inaugural season of Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro, which wrapped August 31.
Sarah Jane Nader and Hailey Bills form the show’s second all-female partnership, following Jenna Johnson and JoJo Siwa in Season 30. Bills also moves up from the troupe to take it.
Witney Carson, meanwhile, returns as the reigning champion. She won Season 34 with Robert Irwin, and she is currently pregnant with her third child. Deadline’s full cast gallery has every official portrait.
The Three Names Carrying the Season
Julia Stiles is the marquee booking. The Julia Stiles Dancing With the Stars casting lands an Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated actor, director and producer. That resume rarely reaches this format. She draws Ezra Sosa, who partnered Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles last season.
Jenna Dewan is the technical threat. Before acting, she worked as a professional backup dancer, so the Jenna Dewan DWTS storyline arrives with a built-in fairness debate already attached. Val Chmerkovskiy partners her.
Giada De Laurentiis is the wildcard. The Giada De Laurentiis DWTS casting brings a Food Network audience that overlaps very little with the show’s usual reality base. Alan Bersten also has a strong record with first-time competitors.
Together, the Dancing With the Stars 2026 cast spreads its appeal across six distinct industries rather than betting everything on one. That is a deliberate hedge, and it changes how the early weeks will play.
When Is the DWTS Season 35 Premiere Date?
The two-night premiere runs Tuesday, September 15 and Wednesday, September 16, both at 8 p.m. ET. After that the show settles into its usual Tuesday slot at the same hour.
Distribution also stays as it was last year. Episodes air live and simultaneously on ABC and Disney+, then stream on Hulu the following day. This is the fourth season to run that simulcast.
Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough both return as co-hosts. Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli remain the judging panel. The prize is still the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy.
What the Dancing With the Stars Season 35 Cast Says About ABC’s Strategy
Look at where these people come from and the logic becomes obvious. Harry Shum Jr. carries Glee and Grey’s Anatomy. Conner Leavitt and Sarah Jane Nader both front Hulu and Disney-adjacent reality series. The casting doubles as cross-promotion for the same streaming platform the show now airs on.
The reality-TV pipeline is meanwhile the other constant. Four of the sixteen come from unscripted franchises. That channel has fed the ballroom for years, and it is the same route that took Love Island alumni into mainstream American television.
Star wattage is spread rather than concentrated. There is no single overwhelming favourite here, unlike Season 34 with Robert Irwin, and that tends to produce a longer, less predictable competition.
The Style Question
Costume is half of this show, and the casting suggests where it goes. Higgins arrives fresh from couture week with a much-discussed pixie cut, and her recent style shift will translate directly to ballroom styling.
De Laurentiis and Stiles bring a different register entirely, since neither has a performance background. Expect the wardrobe department to work in two distinct modes. The Monday-morning celebrity style conversation will therefore follow the dresses as closely as the scores.
What to Watch For Before September 15
Rehearsal footage starts leaking within days, and it usually tells you more than the cast list does. Watch Ezra Frech and Amber Glenn especially, because athletes with elite body control historically overperform early.
The other thing to track is the Zaikman debut. A rookie pro fresh off a spinoff win, paired with a first-time celebrity, is either the season’s best story or its earliest exit. The Hollywood Reporter’s cast rundown notes that four contestants were confirmed months before the reveal, which gave those pairs a head start.
Two weeks out, the DWTS Season 35 cast looks deliberately broad rather than top-heavy. Whether that produces a better season or a slower one gets answered on night one. Runway Magazine covers the premiere as it airs.
