After a decade away, Dancing With the Stars is back in the Outstanding Reality Competition Program category at the Emmys and the team behind the series couldn’t be more excited about it.

When DWTS Season 34 premiered on ABC in September, executive producers Deena Katz and Conrad Green felt that it would do well with the fans, but they never expected it to become a cultural lightning rod. Now, with the Emmy Awards a month away and the program having a strong shot at taking home the hardware, the team behind the series is sharing what they think secured their nomination once again.

“I think the primary thing is the cast, which is Deena’s area. You know, Alix Earle, Robert Irwin, Whitney Levitt, and Andy Richter, there were so many compelling characters, and all of the people on the show loved being on it,” Green told DECIDER at Televerse 2026. “I think that enthusiasm and passion for doing it is really infectious to watch. It’s quite a dark world at the moment, so to have something where you can see people trying to do something so positive and creating something so beautiful is kind of what we need right now in America.”

“I do think it’s also that there’s a really interesting mix of feeling really relevant and yet giving people something that they love, so like Elaine Hendricks and Alix Earle,” Katz added. “It’s this amazing mixture of people that you know, right this second, you love and that you’re dying to see and then watching this all come together.”

That mixture resulted in a record-breaking season for Dancing, which brought in 9.24 million viewers for its November finale. Among viewers in the 18-49 age range, the show nearly doubled Season 33’s finale rating, hitting a 2.15 compared to 2024’s 1.14. The finale — which crowned wildlife conservationist and current Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro host Robert Irwin as the winner — was the most-watched finale for the show in a decade, dating back to 2015 when Bindi Irwin won with partner Derek Hough.

For host Alfonso Ribeiro, it’s not surprising that so many fans — and Television Academy voters — acknowledged Season 34 for making a big splash in the world of reality television. To the DWTS Season 19 winner, it’s all about the hard work of those in front of (and behind) the cameras that makes the show worthy of winning that coveted Emmy.

“I think it’s the creativity and I think we had an incredible cast,” Ribeiro shared. “Whenever I say incredible cast, it has nothing to do with just the dancing, right? [We have] People who move the needle, people who have the personality, people who show up and give of themselves and to their fans, people who want to be there and deliver their art, their heart to the audience and that is special. We were very lucky. You never know why something works, why something comes together, but this last season, it just simply did.”

To that, judge Carrie Ann Inaba added that it has as much to do with the mechanics that viewers do not see as it does with bringing together the right mix of people to compete for the Mirrorball Trophy. It can’t just be that everyone fans love one or two contestants, it has to also get the general audience engaged in a new and exciting way.

“Our production is such an incredibly well-oiled machine. And I think what’s nice is it shows and people are resonating with that because it is college, but it’s also about the casting. I think casting this year was incredible. Having Robert Irwin, number one, he’s just the brightest light we’ve ever seen on Dancing With The Stars. But then also seeing Whitney, getting to know all of these people that we’ve seen on social media. It’s a different type of casting from a different cultural base,” Inaba said.

“We’re hoping, and I feel really confident, that we’ll be able to do it again this year,” Ribeiro said, referencing the upcoming Season 35, which has already cast Savannah Bananas star Jackson Olson, Summer House‘s Ciara Miller, The Traitors’ Maura Higgins, and Jimmy Kimmel Live‘s Guillermo Rodriguez.

Dancing With The Stars Season 34 is now streaming on Disney+ and Hulu. Season 35 premieres on ABC September 15. The full cast will be announced on Good Morning America on September 2.

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