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'DWTS' Season 35: Dance movie royalty Jenna Dewan, Julia Stiles to face off

Theresa Braine, New York Daily News on

Published in Entertainment News

NEW YORK — Will “The Rookie” actress Jenna Dewan “Step Up,” or will “Dancing with the Stars” judges “Save the Last Dance” for Julia Stiles?

That intrigue and more was officially unveiled Wednesday as Season 35 “DWTS” revealed that Dewan and Stiles, who each starred in the respective now-classic dance movies, will be among those facing off against athletes, actors, a chef and a smattering of reality stars, among other luminaries of various stripes.

Audiences could expect — maybe — to see some throwback to “Step Up” on the “DWTS” ballroom floor, Dewan implied.

“Yes. We have to,” Dewan said, noting that this year marks the 2006 movie’s 20th anniversary.

Stiles’ 2001 “Save the Last Dance” days were front and center in a video shoutout from co-stars Kerry Washington and Sean Patrick Thomas.

“I have known since our days on set at ‘Save the Last Dance’ that you truly know your way around the dance floor,” Washington said in the clip, played for Stiles on “GMA.”

Thomas alluded to the movie’s plot in assuring his co-star she was gonna crush it.

“Julia, congratulations … I had a front-row seat the last time you undertook a similar challenge in ‘Save the Last Dance,’ and from what I remember, you got into Juilliard, so I know you’re gonna kill it,” he said of her character’s triumph in the 2001 film, which turns 25 this year.

 

Stiles gushed about her decade-long intense fandom for the show, declaring it her “Tuesday night football.”

While some fans dinged “Dancing” for choosing experienced dancers — “Gray’s Anatomy” actor and “Glee” alum Harry Shum Jr., a former backup dancer, is also on the list — Dewan said stepping off the screen and into ballroom competition was far from a seamless transition.

“It’s totally different. It’s a whole different style for me,” she told “ABC News Live” anchor Diane Macedo after the announcement, and Shum concurred. “It’s a little bit of almost unlearning. You have some ingrained habits that don’t really blend well with partner dancing and ballroom.”

Dewan is paired with Val Chmerkovskiy, Stiles with Ezra Sosa and Shum with Jenna Johnson. Other contestants include Ciara Miller of “Summer House” fame, dancing with Brandon Armstrong; “Traitors” star Maura Higgins, paired with Mark Ballas; and “MMMBop” singer Tyler Hanson, who will partner with Britt Stewart. All appeared on “GMA” Wednesday morning.

This season will feature the second-ever female-female pairing, the third in the series history, The Hollywood Reporter noted. Sarah Jane Nader, sister of ninth-place Season 33 finisher Brooks Nader and star of reality’s “Love Thy Nader,” is paired with former troupe dancer Hailey Bills, who has just joined the show’s pro ranks.

Also notably, “DWTS” has upped the number of couples from 14 to 16, its producers said. Witney Carson, while not the first pregnant pro, becomes the first to start a season of “DWTS” in her second trimester. She’s dancing with “Jimmy Kimmel Live” sidekick Guillermo Rodriguez. And Sharna Burgess returns to the pro ranks after a five-year hiatus.


©2026 New York Daily News. Visit nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

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