How many seasons of Dancing with the Stars are there?

Dancing with the Stars has aired 35 seasons so far.

How many episodes of Dancing with the Stars are there?

There are 511 episodes of Dancing with the Stars across 35 seasons.

What is Dancing with the Stars's IMDb rating?

Dancing with the Stars holds an IMDb rating of 4.9/10 from 10,721 votes.

Reality

When Does Dancing with the Stars Season 35 Come Out? Is It Renewed?

“Dance like everyone's watching.”

Dancing with the Stars Season 35 doesn't have an official release date yet. Based on the roughly 6-month gap between previous seasons, expect it around March 2026.

IMDb

4.9/10

Seasons

Episodes

511

Diagnostics

Network: ABC
Genres: Reality, Family
First aired: 2005-06-01
Last aired: 2025-12-02
Runtime: —

Awards Won 21 Primetime Emmys. 48 wins & 203 nominations total

Predictive Logic Analysis

Season 34 posted genuine momentum where it counts most for broadcast network renewal decisions: live viewership. Growing from roughly 5.5 million viewers at the premiere to 6.63 million by late October, with six consecutive weeks of audience increases, is the kind of trajectory that keeps a show locked into a network schedule. ABC has never cancelled this show in 20 years of airing it, and that institutional inertia alone would be a strong baseline signal even without the ratings performance. The show also moved to Disney+ streaming alongside its ABC broadcast run, which broadens its reach and gives Disney an additional platform incentive to keep it going.

The IMDb rating of 4.9 is low, but Dancing with the Stars has always attracted polarized audience scores online while maintaining mass viewership. The episode rating average of 4.5 in Season 33 versus 8.5 the prior season looks alarming in isolation, but those figures likely reflect a small, vocal, and dissatisfied online rating cohort rather than the general audience that keeps tuning in live. Trakt active watchers at 7,625 with steady momentum and steady Wikipedia pageview trends both confirm a stable, if not explosive, audience base. The spinoff reportedly in development adds further evidence that Disney/ABC sees this franchise as worth expanding, not contracting. There is no cancellation signal anywhere in the coverage.

What is Dancing with the Stars about?

Dancing with the Stars has been a fixture of American primetime television for two decades, built on a premise that is as simple as it is irresistible: take a roster of recognizable faces from sports, entertainment, and politics, pair each of them with a professional ballroom dancer, and watch what happens when fame collides with footwork. The pursuit of the Mirrorball Trophy gives every season a clear dramatic throughline, and the combination of viewer voting and expert judging creates an unpredictable competitive dynamic that keeps audiences invested week after week. Whether rooting for an underdog athlete finding unexpected grace or cringing through a celebrity's first disastrous waltz, viewers always have a reason to tune in.

The show wears its glamour proudly, dressing everything in sequins, spray tans, and showstopping ballroom spectacle. It occupies a warm, family-friendly lane that distinguishes it from the edgier competition formats that have crowded the reality landscape over the years. The judging panel, anchored by the knowledgeable and often theatrical Bruno Tonioli and the experienced Carrie Ann Inaba alongside Derek Hough, provides both genuine critique and reliable entertainment, while hosts Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough keep proceedings breezy and approachable. The show has a liveness and energy to it that rewards communal viewing, making it a reliable staple of family television nights.

Critical reception has been modest, and the IMDb rating reflects a certain ambivalence from online audiences who tend to favor grittier or more prestigious fare. Yet ratings longevity tells a more complete story than any single score. Spanning 35 seasons and more than 500 episodes, the series has demonstrated a durability that most scripted dramas would envy, surviving shifts in the television landscape including a high-profile move to streaming on Disney Plus while maintaining a devoted core audience.

Within the reality competition genre, Dancing with the Stars sits alongside American Idol and Survivor as one of the defining franchises of the early 21st century television era. It helped establish the celebrity-competition format as a viable long-term programming strategy and inspired numerous international adaptations around the world. Its cultural footprint is considerable, having introduced mainstream American audiences to the vocabulary and athleticism of ballroom dance while generating genuine moments of viral spectacle and emotional resonance season after season.

Is Dancing with the Stars renewed or cancelled?

Working toward renewal

high

Six consecutive weeks of rising viewership during Season 34, hitting season highs of 6.63M viewers and a 1.38 Adults 18-49 rating

Source

high

20-year unbroken run on ABC with 35 seasons and 511 episodes; the network has never cancelled the show

high

Season 34 premiere drew ~5.5M viewers with 21M votes cast, a 163% surge in voting vs the prior season

Source

medium

A DWTS spinoff is reportedly in development, signaling Disney/ABC franchise confidence

Source

medium

TMDB status listed as Returning Series with last episode airing December 2025

low

Trakt active watchers steady at 7,625 and Wikipedia pageview trend steady, indicating stable audience retention

Working against it

low

IMDb rating of 4.9 and episode rating average of 4.5 in Season 33, suggesting vocal online audience dissatisfaction

low

No official Season 35 renewal announcement yet from ABC

Dancing with the Stars Season 35 Release Date

Season 34 finished airing in late November/early December 2025, putting the show roughly five months removed from its last episode. Historically, Dancing with the Stars runs in the fall, typically premiering in mid-to-late September. Based on that pattern, Season 35 would be expected around September 2026. There is no announced premiere date yet, but a fall 2026 return on ABC (and Disney+) is the safe assumption barring any major format or scheduling changes from the network.