‘Dancing With the Stars’ Boss Explains Season 35’s ‘Mormon Wives’ Surprise, All-Female Pairing

“Dancing With the Stars” just unveiled its next talent lineup after its record-breaking season last fall. The Season 35 cast includes two new pros, an all-female pairing and two more couples than prior seasons. Executive producer Conrad Green told TheWrap the methods behind the casting madness and how he sustained hype from Season 34 throughout the last eight months. This year, “DWTS” expanded the franchise with a new spinoff “The Next Pro.” Green explained that this series was part of a larger strategy in sustaining the show’s increasingly engaged fanbase. (The Season 34 finale set a record with 9.24 million total viewers and 72 million votes cast, making it the show’s highest-rated finale in 10 years.) “There’s so much buzz around the show, and it does seem a bit sad to just let that sit for eight months,” he told TheWrap. “It’s trying to build things that feel natural to the show that don’t cannibalize the main show … Having a couple cast announcements pop up in April just whets the appetite.” The franchise announced Ciara Miller, Maura Higgins and Jackson Olson months before the show returns this fall. Since then, more cast announcements included returning pros Witney Carson and Sharna Burgess as well as new troupe member Kamri Peterson. Season 35 will only continue the show’s growth, adding two additional couples to the mix. Instead of 14, the show has expanded to 16 couples competing for the mirrorball trophy. Green explained that this decision was in part because of the show’s growing popularity but also for logistical reasons. “We have two two-hour shows in the first week, and it’s very hard to fill that with seven couples in each show,” he explained. “We’ve got some special dances. They’re going to be great premieres, but you need enough dances to fill those two competitive episodes.” The new season will also welcome two new professional dancers to the ballroom. Adele Zaikman was crowned the winner of “The Next Pro” just two days prior to the full cast announcement, an intentional choice by the production team to build hype for the flagship series. The casting team paired her with Conner Leavitt, husband to “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” star and former competitor Whitney Leavitt. Green said that the team befriended Connor last season and felt that his warm energy would complement Zaikman’s fiery competitive spirit. “We loved Conner [Leavitt] when he was around. We got to know him because Whitney was on the show, and he’s like such a supportive, lovely guy, and really likable,” he said. “I’ve got a feeling he’s a good performer.” Hailey Bills joined the “DWTS” troupe and quickly became a fan favorite. She extended her reach within the fanbase this spring as she traveled across the country on the nationwide tour. Green wanted to create opportunities for pros to come in through different avenues, not just “The Next Pro” pipeline. “I think her and Adele, in an odd way, have both got a better chance as new pros than most people in the past because sometimes people just appear and no one knows them,” he added. “Dancing “with the Stars pairing Sarah Jane Nader and Hailey Bills. (Disney/Andrew Eccles) Bills will be partnered with Sarah Jane Nader, the reality star whose sister competed on the show on Season 33. This is the second time in the series’ history where a same-sex couple will compete. “Sarah Jane is bi[sexual], and she just wanted to have a female partner,” Green explained. “It was just something about the dynamic of those two together … We kept coming back to [them] and going, those two, they look good.” “And Hailey’s totally up for it,” he added. The other celebrities joining the series include Tatyana Ali, Tyler Cameron, Giada De Laurentiis, Jenna Dewan, Ezra Fech, Amber Glenn, Taylor Hanson, Guillermo Rodriguez, Harry Shum Jr., Julia Stiles and Connor Wood. The two-part premiere of “Dancing With the Stars” Season 35 will air Tuesday-Wednesday, Sept. 15-16 on ABC and Disney+.