‘Dancing With the Stars’ Will No Longer Postpone Season 32 Premiere

Dancing With the Stars will samba onto fans’ screens as originally planned. 

Following Sunday’s news that the Writers Guild of America has struck a tentative deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to end the 146-day-long writers’ strike, ABC confirmed on Monday that the ballroom competition will premiere as originally scheduled on Tuesday, Sept. 26. 

The news marks a quick change from last week, when ET learned that ABC was putting in place plans to postpone Tuesday’s season 32 premiere amid the then-ongoing strike. 

The plan involved the network identifying alternate temporary programming for the Tuesday 8 to 10 p.m. time slot and crafting a new rollout plan for season 32 of the show.

A source close to production told ET that “there are over 500 people employed for the show and the talent are allowed to work on this show under the SAG Network Code agreement, but due to rising pressure that the talent is receiving, we are preparing to postpone.”

One of the season 32 contestants, comedian and actor Matt Walsh, planned to pause his involvement from the show in support of the writers’ strike. ET has learned that Walsh is now scheduled to participate in the premiere.

In a previous statement to ET, Walsh said he would not be part of the show “until an agreement is made with the WGA [Writers Guild of America].”

“I was excited to join the show and did so under the impression that it was not a WGA show and fell under a different agreement,” Walsh further explained in his statement. “This morning when I was informed by my union, the WGA, that it is considered struck work I walked out of my rehearsal. I have been and will always stand with my union members of the WGA, SAG and DGA. Beyond our union artists, I am sensitive to the many people impacted by the strike and I hope for a speedy and fair resolution, and to one day work again with all the wonderful people I met at DWTS who tolerated my dancing.”

But in a statement, the SAG-AFTRA said the majority of its members on DWTS “had contractual obligations to the show prior to the strike” and that “many are under option agreements that require them to return to the show if the producer exercises their option which the producer has done.” 

“Our members are also subject to a ‘No Strike Clause’ in the Network Code Collective Bargaining Agreement,” the statement added. “This means our performers agree not to strike during the term of the Collective Bargaining Agreement and to show up to work during this term (the Network Code runs through June 30, 2024.) By not showing up to work, our performers can be held in breach of contract and the Union is prohibited from advising them not to work.”

SAG-AFTA also underscored in its statement that DWTS “is a SAG-AFTRA non-dramatic production under a separate agreement that is not subject to the union’s strike order.”

During the last strike in 2007-2008, Dancing With the Stars remained in production, and similarly re-hired its writer once the strike was over. This time around, there was mounting pressure for production to come to a halt until the writers struck a deal.

Initially, the decision to proceed with the show’s return next week stirred controversy as the strike dragged on. 

The season 32 cast of DWTS features several members who are part of SAG-AFTRA, including Walsh, Alyson Hannigan, Jamie Lynn Spears, Barry Williams, Mira Sorvino, Ariana Madix, and Xochitl Gomez. Variety previously reported that, in light of the SAG-AFTRA strike that is also taking place, the show will not include any video packages showcasing the cast members’ past TV and film projects to comply with union rules that prohibit the promotion or discussion of former SAG-AFTRA projects.

At the time, Dancing With the Stars postponing the premiere was in line with the decisions of other TV shows. The Talk announced it would pause the premiere of the upcoming season. The show was set to return for season 14 on Sept. 18. In support of the strike, the show went dark in May.

Drew Barrymore also recently said she was pausing the return of The Drew Barrymore Show after receiving feedback from others in SAG-AFTRA and the WGA. Ditto for The Jennifer Hudson Show.

Season 32 of Dancing With the Stars will premiere Tuesday on ABC and Disney+ at 8 p.m. ET and will be available the next day on Hulu.

RELATED CONTENT: