The Dancing With the Stars 2026 cast is officially here, and Season 35 is loading the ballroom with a 16-person lineup spanning film, television, reality TV, music, food, social media and elite sport.
ABC revealed the complete celebrity cast and professional pairings on Good Morning America on September 2. The announcement immediately became a major search story: Google Trends showed “dancing with the stars 2026 cast” above 200,000 searches in the United States, up roughly 1,000%, while the trend was still active.
The headline names include Julia Stiles with Ezra Sosa, Jenna Dewan with Val Chmerkovskiy, Harry Shum Jr. with Jenna Johnson, Giada De Laurentiis with Alan Bersten, Tatyana Ali with Jan Ravnik and Taylor Hanson with Britt Stewart.
The rest of the celebrity field is Amber Glenn with Pasha Pashkov, Ciara Miller with Brandon Armstrong, Conner Leavitt with Adele Zaikman, Connor Wood with Rylee Arnold, Ezra Frech with Daniella Karagach, Guillermo Rodriguez with Witney Carson, Jackson Olson with Emma Slater, Maura Higgins with Mark Ballas, Sarah Jane Nader with Hailey Bills and Tyler Cameron with Sharna Burgess.
Several pairings arrive with built-in storylines. Stiles is closely associated with dance drama Save the Last Dance, while Dewan broke through in Step Up. Shum also has an extensive dance background, giving Season 35 multiple contestants whose movement experience could become an early talking point once scoring begins.
There are notable changes on the professional side too. Adele Zaikman joins as a pro after winning Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro, while Hailey Bills has been elevated from the troupe. Sharna Burgess is also returning to the competition after last appearing as a competing pro in Season 30.
Season 35 begins with a two-night premiere on Tuesday, September 15 and Wednesday, September 16 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and Disney+. Episodes will then stream the following day on Hulu. Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough return as co-hosts, with Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough and Bruno Tonioli back at the judges’ table.
The timing gives ABC nearly two weeks to turn the cast reveal into anticipation for premiere night. With the announcement already surging in search interest, the first question is no longer who made the cast — it is which of these 16 pairings can turn early attention into a Mirrorball run.
