Will ‘Dancing With The Stars’ Be Delayed After Losing 1 Star To Strike?

It usually takes a fall, a faint or a shocking elimination to get Dancing With the Stars fans buzzing about the ballroom bash as much as they have this week. But the big talker for Season 32 doesn’t have anything to do with drama on the dance floor.

Instead, it’s all about whether or not the cast of celebrities scheduled to show off their fancy footwork next week will even get the chance to hit the dance floor.

As it stands now, with the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes continuing to disrupt business as usual in Tinseltown, one star is already hanging up his dancing shoes (for now) and one pro hoofer has dubbed the possibility of a delayed season of Dancing With the Stars as “unfair.”

Caught in the crossfire

Writer, comedian and former “Veep” star Matt Walsh was among the talent in training for the September 26 premiere of the ballroom competition, but on Thursday, as members of the Writers Guild of America picketed Dancing With the Stars rehearsal spaces, he made a sudden announcement.

“I am taking a pause from Dancing with the Stars until an agreement is made with the WGA,” he wrote in a statement shared to his Instagram Stories. “I was excited to join the show and did so under the impression that it was not a WGA show and fell under a different agreement. This morning when I was informed by my union, the WGA, that it is considered struck work I waked out of my rehearsal. I have been and will always stand with my union members of the WGA, SAG and DGA. Beyond our union artists, I am sensitive to the man people impacted by the strike and I hope for a speedy and fair resolution, and to one day work again with all the wonderful people I met at DWTS who tolerated my dancing.”

Days before Walsh’s decision, his fellow WGA members took to X, formerly Twitter, and mentioned that his participation in the show would be problematic, given that the union considers the long-running reality TV series to be a struck production.

But is it a struck production? That depends on who you ask.

Status of the ballroom bash

According to the WGA West’s member directory, David Boone has worked as a writer and executive producer on DWTS since the series’ inception, making it a WGA covered show and fair game for picket lines. As so, WGA members on social media have called out Season 32’s cast—which includes Academy Award winner Mira Sorvino, Grammy-winning singer Jason Mraz, How I Met Your Mother and Buffy the Vampire Slayer star Alyson Hannigan and more—asking them to “do the right thing” and not cross their lines.

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There’s just one problem with that. Several of those celeb contestants are members of the Screen Actors Guild, which, despite its own strike, isn’t contesting their participation.

On the contrary, SAG-AFTRA insists they must honor their commitments to dance on the ABC hit.

“Our members appearing on ‘Dancing With the Stars’ are working under the Network Code agreement, which is a non-struck contract. They are required to go to work, are not in violation of SAG-AFTRA strike rules, and we support them in fulfilling their contractual obligations,” a spokesperson for the union announced via a statement to Variety Thursday.

It’s not that SAG-AFTRA is taking a stand against the WGA, but rather that it is protecting its own members.

“By not showing up to work, our performers can be held in breach of contract and the Union is prohibited from advising them not to work,” the statement continued.

Wait to dance another day?

Fans eagerly awaiting the season premiere are now left wondering if the show will go on, and so far, that appears to be the plan.

As of Thursday evening, the show’s official social media channels were still promoting Tuesday night’s return. And pro dancer Gleb Savchenko hopes that’s a good sign.

Savchenko is partnered with Sorvino in the upcoming season, has expressed his desire to avoid a delay, telling The Hollywood Reporter, it would be “unfair to a lot of people.”

He added, “I really hope, and we’re all praying that they’re going to figure it out, and we’re going to continue on Tuesday.”