Jackson Olson Joins Season 35 of Dancing With the Stars
Jackson Olson is joining Dancing With the Stars Season 35, adding a Savannah Bananas player to ABC’s fall ballroom lineup. ABC has been rolling out the cast in pieces, and the full celebrity and professional-dancer list will be revealed on Good Morning America on Sept. 2.
Season 35 Cast Buildout
Ciara Miller was one of the first two celebrities announced for the new season, showing ABC is not waiting for the full reveal to start shaping attention around the cast. Olson’s addition extends that slow-burn rollout and gives the network another name tied to a recognizable sports-entertainment brand before the fall premiere.
Season 35 is set for this fall, so the remaining announcements now function as the show’s last chance to lock in the lineup before the season reaches viewers. For a competition series that depends on pairings, that means the cast reveal is not just publicity; it is the season’s actual starting line.
Deena Katz And Conrad Green
Deena Katz has already framed the casting process around timing, saying of Miller, “was a really of the moment” and adding, “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.” That same sense of timing appears to be driving the staggered rollout here.
Conrad Green has also set up the companion project, saying, “[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 added, “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.”
The Next Pro This Summer
Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro will debut this summer, before the main season returns. Green said the winner of The Next Pro is “already in the bank,” which turns the companion show into more than a side project; it is a built-in pipeline for the pro cast and a test of the range the franchise now expects from its dancers.
Sept. 2 is the date that should matter most to viewers tracking the season, because that is when the full celebrity and pro-dancer list drops. Olson’s name is on the board now, and ABC has made clear it is using the weeks before the reveal to keep the season in view while the rest of the cast is still coming together.
