BBC Studios' 'Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro' Sets July 2026 Production for ABC and Hulu

The Dancing with the Stars franchise is expanding in a significant way, and crew opportunities are already taking shape. BBC Studios is in pre-production on Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro, a competition spinoff ordered by ABC and Hulu that marks the first major franchise extension in two decades. With a series premiere set for July 13, 2026, the production is ramping up well ahead of cameras rolling, which means the window for department heads and key crew to get on board is open right now.

The series centers on twelve aspiring professional dancers living under one roof as they compete through an intensive audition process for a coveted spot as a pro on Season 35 of the flagship Dancing with the Stars. It is a format that blends the ensemble reality competition structure of shows like So You Think You Can Dance with the aspirational franchise appeal of DWTS itself, and the creative team attached has the pedigree to pull it off. Conrad Green serves as showrunner and executive producer, a role he knows well. Green was the original showrunner of Dancing with the Stars during its defining years on ABC, shepherding the show through much of its record-setting run and essentially building the production infrastructure the franchise still operates on today. His return to the DWTS universe for this spinoff is a meaningful signal about the seriousness of the project and the institutional knowledge behind it.

Hosting duties fall to Robert Irwin, the Australian wildlife conservationist and son of the late Steve Irwin, who took home the Season 34 Mirrorball Trophy alongside his partner. Irwin's win was one of the most talked-about moments of that record-breaking season, and casting him as host here is a smart piece of franchise storytelling. The judging panel brings together two names with deep DWTS roots. Mark Ballas, a three-time champion pro who has been part of the show's fabric since its early seasons, will judge alongside his mother Shirley Ballas, the longtime head judge of Strictly Come Dancing in the United Kingdom. That mother-son dynamic, combined with Shirley's authority as the head of the U.K. version, gives the panel instant credibility with both American and international dance audiences. A rotating roster of past DWTS pros will also cycle through as guest mentors and judges each week, which translates practically to a production schedule that needs to accommodate recurring guest talent logistics throughout the run.

BBC Studios produces, which tells you a great deal about the resources and institutional backing behind this project. BBC Studios is one of the most active and well-capitalized production entities working in unscripted television, with a global infrastructure and a proven track record delivering large-scale competition formats. Their production of the flagship Dancing with the Stars has run smoothly for years, and the crew pipeline they have built around that show will almost certainly inform how they staff this spinoff. The executive producer bench is deep: Ryan O'Dowd, Krystal Whitney, Alex Cross, and Jenny Groom all carry EP credits alongside Green, with Deena Katz and Quinn Lipton attached as co-executive producers. Katz is a well-known figure in the competition and talk space, with years of experience producing live and taped performance-driven formats. That combination of EPs suggests a production that will be organized, experienced, and moving with purpose.

Filming locations have not yet been publicly confirmed, but given the format, a few things can be reasonably anticipated. The communal living element of the show will require a dedicated house or compound location, likely requiring a locations team and a production designer experienced in reality television builds and practical camera-ready living environments. The competition performance elements will likely require a dedicated stage or studio space, possibly tied to existing BBC Studios or DWTS production infrastructure in Los Angeles, though that has not been confirmed. Crew familiar with large-scale unscripted competition formats, particularly those with live or semi-live performance components, will find this production a natural fit. The premiere date of July 13, 2026, airing at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC with next-day streaming on Hulu, points to a late spring or early summer production window, which gives pre-production several months of runway from today.

For crew assessing this opportunity, the format signals several specific department needs. A strong art department will be essential to design and dress a functional, photogenic communal living space that holds up under continuous multi-camera coverage. A choreography and movement department, or at minimum close coordination between the production team and the attached pro dancer talent, will be central to the competition design. Music licensing and clearance will be an ongoing pipeline given the dance-performance format. And with a rotating cast of guest mentors each week, the production management team will need to stay nimble. Given the BBC Studios flag and the ABC primetime premiere slot, this is almost certainly a SAG-AFTRA and union-covered production at a healthy budget tier appropriate for a major network competition series.

ProductionList.com has the full listing for Dancing with the Stars: The Next Pro, including the complete crew roster as it builds out, production office contact information, and scheduling updates as they are confirmed. If this is the kind of project you have been waiting for, now is the time to make your move. Pre-production is the hiring season, and with six-plus months before premiere, the departments coming together right now will define the entire run. Bookmark the listing and check back regularly as the crew list fills in.

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