Dancing With the Stars is returning for Season 33, as recently confirmed by ABC.
With that, fans are already speculating about the cast, including co-host Julianne Hough, who recently revealed her top celebrity pick for DWTS.
Meanwhile, fans are concerned that Julianne’s brother, Derek Hough, may not appear in the next season.
Derek was a significant part of Season 32’s cast, appearing as one of the judges along with regulars Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli.
His experience as a winning professional dancer on the show enabled him to provide helpful critiques of the various celeb dancers.
However, fans seemingly spotted what they believe is a clue that he’s not part of Season 33.
DWTS cast members appear at Disney event
The Disney Upfronts 2024 presentations arrived earlier this week and included celebrities and personalities such as Stephen A. Smith, Emma Stone, Angela Bassett, and Ellen Pompeo.
Various Dancing With the Stars cast members appeared at the event, as Julianne shared a carousel post on her Instagram.
In the various photos, she appears beside judges Bruno and Carrie Ann. A final clip in Julianne’s post features her taking a selfie video as she walks with Bruno, Carrie Ann, and host Alfonso Ribeiro.
“Lovely day at the #disneyupfronts2024 with my @dancingwiththestars family,” she wrote in her IG post’s caption.
A similar Instagram post featuring photos of Carrie Ann, Bruno, Julianne, and Alfonso appeared on the Dancing With the Stars’ IG page.
It simply included the caption, “adds a white pant suit to cart immediately,” referring to Carrie Ann and Julianne’s stylish outfits.
The post also included an ABC tag and received over 23,000 likes and 100 comments from fans with various reactions.
However, one cast member was missing from the lineup, as Derek did not appear in any of the photos.
Fans worry over Derek’s return for Season 33
Many commenters expressed concerns about Derek not being part of the recent event, as they feared he might not return for Season 33.
“No @derekhough ? No go 😢,” a fan wrote.
“Is Derek not coming back as judge?” a commenter asked, while another commented, “I liked having Derek as a judge!”
“Where’s Derek????” a commenter wrote to ask about the DWTS judge’s status for Season 33.
Another commenter indicated they’d just seen Derek performing as part of his dance tour in Idaho Falls, Idaho.
Since April 14, Derek Hough’s A Symphony of Dance has resumed touring the country. As the commenter mentioned, a performance happened in Idaho Falls on May 14. That was followed by shows in Las Vegas, Nevada, on May 16 and Riverside, California, on May 17.
According to Derek’s website, another show is happening in San Diego, California, on Sunday, May 19.
As of this writing, ABC has yet to confirm or reveal the complete cast for DWTS Season 33. However, Variety’s report mentioned Derek among the judges, with Carrie Ann and Bruno, as well as Alfaonso as host and Julianne as co-host.
Dancing With the Stars Season 33 premiere is TBA for ABC and Disney+.