Casting Director for ‘Dancing with the Stars’ Offers Exciting Hints for Season 35

“Dancing with the Stars” is gearing up for its 35th season, and there’s exciting news about the cast lineup!

During the 51st Gracie Awards in Beverly Hills, where “Dancing with the Stars” was honored as the best competition series, executive producer and casting director Deena Katz shared insights with On The Red Carpet about the upcoming season.

“I’m thrilled about this year’s lineup. I’ve made significant progress and am ahead of schedule, with about two-thirds of the casting already finalized,” Katz revealed to On The Red Carpet.

Currently, three celebrities have been confirmed to compete on the dance floor: Maura Higgins from “Love Island,” Ciara Miller from “Summer House,” and Jackson Olson from the Savannah Bananas.

Danielle Fishel and Jordan Chiles, who participated in season 34, were also present at the Gracie Awards. Fishel eagerly joined the conversation, seeking out more details about the new season.

Curious about the upcoming season’s scale, Fishel asked Katz, “Will the cast be larger or smaller than last year?”

“It’s probably gonna be about the same,” Katz said.

“That’s all that matters,” joked Chiles.

When we asked Katz to elaborate or maybe hint at other stars joining the cast, she only gave us this: “It’s coming together great. I will say, if it’s a hint at all… I feel like one of the many reasons why the show is doing as well is it’s become very competitive. I feel like it’s a little bit more like a sporting event than it used to be. So you could imagine there’s going to be people that, the competition keeps raising.”

So does that mean there will be more sports stars next season? We’ll be thinking about the possibilities until the entire cast is revealed September 2 on “Good Morning America.”

Season 35 of “Dancing with the Stars” premieres later this year on ABC and Disney+.

Fishel and Chiles told On The Red Carpet that being at the Gracie Awards to celebrate the show was a thrill.

“The fact that it ended up being a groundbreaking season just feels like, I don’t know, it’s just everything happened the way it was supposed to. And I’m so honored to have been a part of such an incredible group of women, both in front of the camera and behind the camera,” said Fishel.

“We get to tell our stories not just within our own craft that we came onto the show with, but also in a different platform, whether it was dancing, whether it was behind the scenes or in front of the cameras we just got to enjoy each other and i think that’s the biggest thing.”

The Gracie Awards are handed out by the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation and highlight women’s voices, stories and achievements across television and other types of media.

ABC News, Hulu, ESPN, National Geographic and Disney Branded Television are among the winners from the Walt Disney Company.

“Paradise,” Wizards Beyond Waverly Place,” “Harlem Ice,” The Lion King at the Hollywood Bowl,” “Nightline,” “20/20,” “The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox,” “The Tamron Hall Show and “Barbara Walters: Tell Me Everything” took home awards along with “Dancing with the Stars.”

The Walt Disney Company is the parent company of this ABC station.