Who will be on Drag Race All Stars 5 and Drag Race 12, which filmed this summer

VH1 officially announced the renewals of both RuPaul’s Drag Race (for season 12) and Drag Race All Stars (for season 5), but the two new seasons have already either been filmed and/or are currently completing production.

That means we have a pretty good idea of which drag queens will be competing—and which Drag Race all-stars are returning to compete again. (Or again for a second time, as is the case with two of them.)

First, although the press release uses variations of the word “greenlight” four times, the actual greenlight to move ahead occurred at least months ago.

In an early June episode of the podcast “What’s the Tee?”, RuPaul said, “We’re doing All Stars and then we’re doing season whatever.” Michelle asks, “Are we allowed to say we’re doing all-stars?”

Later, in July, RuPaul tweeted “We’re filming right now” in response to comedian Jim Gaffigan, who tweeted about wanting to judge the show.

In a video announcement released today, RuPaul is in drag and clearly on the show’s set, at the judge’s table. (Is it just me, or does this video end awkwardly and lack energy and excitement? Perhaps it was just shot at the end of a long day of production.) Watch:

So both seasons are filming back to back this summer. We don’t really know exact filming dates, though someone noticed a job posting for PAs to work on a competition reality show between June 10 to Aug. 30, and that seemed like a possible filming window, since it’s 12 weeks, enough time to film two six-week seasons.

However, regular Drag Race judge Michelle Visage is in London today rehearsing for Strictly Come Dancing, though she could return if filming is ongoing through the end of this month.

VH1 did not announce airdates for either season, but has been following a very clear pattern the past few years: All Stars premiering toward the end of the year, and airing during the winter months, with a new season following in the spring.

The rumored casts of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 5 and Drag Race season 12

VH1 did not announce any of the drag queen contestants for the new seasons.

However, queens who will be competing on each season are often easy to identify, as they cancel planned gigs and disappear from social media during production.

For the new RuPaul’s Drag Race season 12 contestants, Reddit’s SpoiledDragRace subreddit has a thread with 12 possible queens who will be competing, with an additional “rumored/possible,” and several that have been debunked.

As to the RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars season 5 queens, there’s a list of 10 contestants who’ve been identified.

The SpoiledDragRace subreddit’s list has some possible spoilers; that same list is reproduced without spoilers at the Drag Race Fandom wiki.

Two of the returning queens have competed twice before, on a regular season and on all-stars. The rest will be appearing on only their second Drag Race season.

None of them placed higher than third in their previous seasons. There are three queens from each of season 3 and season 10, but no other overlaps except two queens from All Stars 1.

Here’s the list, in order of their original season:

1. Ongina (season 1)
2. Jujubee (season 2, All Stars 1)
3. Alexis Mateo (season 3, All Stars 1)
4. Mariah Paris Balenciaga (season 3)
5. India Ferrah (season 3)
6. Derrick Barry (season 8)
7. Shea Couleé (season 9)
8. Mayhem Miller (season 10)
9. Miz Cracker (season 10)
10. Blair St. Clair (season 10)