The Dancing With the Stars ballroom will look a little different for season 35.
While returning faves like reigning mirrorball champ Witney Carson, Val Chmerkovskiy, Rylee Arnold, Sharna Burgess and Ezra Sosa will all be back to cha cha with a celebrity, a number of the show’s well-known choreographers will be absent this year.
The new season, which premieres September 15, 2026, will also see Hailey Bills and Adele Zaikman make their debuts as pro dancers. Bills, for her part, will notably be teaming up with Sarah Jane Nader as part of the second all-female pairing in DWTS history, as Zaikman will join forces with Conner Leavitt. (Bills was promoted from troupe, while Zaikman won the inaugural season of Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro to secure her slot.)
According to host Alfonso Ribeiro, the pros often find out about their DWTS status mere weeks before the cast is publicly announced.
“Typically, once we have a list of the pros that are gonna be on, we then, at some point, we’ll get the opportunity to hear who’s gonna be [on the show],” Ribeiro exclusively told Us in September 2025. “But it’s never final, right? It’s ever-changing, and there were some pairings that were different three weeks ago [this year].”
Per Ribeiro, the lineup can continue “to evolve” as new stars sign onto compete.
“You realize, ‘Oh, actually, this is a better pairing than that pairing.’ And they work on it right up until the final day until [the stars and pros] meet each other,” Ribeiro said, adding that show executives Deena Katz, Conrad Green and Rob Mills “always get it right” in the end. “They figure it out. I don’t know how they do it, but they always figure out how to put the right people together. They’re magical.”
Keep scrolling to see which DWTS pros won’t return for season 35:
Gleb Savchenko
While Savchenko appeared in season 33 in 2025, he was not paired with a celebrity this year.
“Guys, you can stop telling me you’re sorry, I’m good,” he said in a social media video shared after casting was announced, adding in his caption that he is “moving forward.”
He continued, “Nothing but love and gratitude for all the years in that ballroom. Excited for this next chapter — and wishing everyone an amazing season.”
Sasha Farber
Farber hasn’t appeared on DWTS since 2024’s season 33 and is still off the pro roster.
Taking to TikTok comment in September 2026, Farber coyly hinted that the decision was “not [his] choice.”
Lindsay Arnold
Arnold stepped back from the ballroom to focus on her family. (She shares three young children with husband Sam Cusick.)
“In a perfect world, I could do the show and also do all the other things I have and also take my kids to all of their things and also be home,” Lindsay, whose sister Rylee will foxtrot with influencer Connor Wood this season, previously told Us in August 2026. “But, I think right now, I am just absolutely loving and embracing this phase of life that we’re in.”
She continued, “I’ve got my girls in so many different things, and I love being there for all of those things. I love being able to be fully present and just embrace this phase of life. I feel really grateful for all the years that I had on the show and embracing that phase of my life.”
Lindsay’s daughters, Sage and June, recently kicked off their school year, while her son, Hayes, is nearly 2 months old.
Stephani Sosa
Ezra’s sister appeared on the DWTS troupe during season 33 and was cut the next year. While she later appeared on The Next Pro, she was eliminated before semifinals that took her out of the running to return to the dance floor.
As for Ezra, he will team up with Save the Last Dance actress Julia Stiles.
