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When will The Traitors return? What we know now.

When will The Traitors return? What we know now.
Rachel, Cirie, and Andie applaud on The Traitors US season 1, episode 7—perhaps because they know the success of their season will give us more Traitors. (Image via Peacock)

The Traitors is the best new reality competition and format in years, maybe decades.

Of its English-language versions that premiered over the last few months, two of them—the US and UK versions—have been renewed by their respective networks, Peacock and BBC One.

(The Australian version has not yet been renewed, though there’s news about that below.)

More Traitors is certainly exciting, because I’m just desperate for more. So when will get those new seasons? Not any time soon, alas.

The Traitors US and UK season 2 are now casting

A person standing in front of a castle at night, with two cloaked figures behind her
The Traitors UK season 1 host Claudia Winkleman (Photo by BBC)

When Peacock announced The Traitors was being renewed, it did not give any indication of when the second season might premiere. Ditto for The BBC, which announced the renewal in late February.

They did confirm both Alan Cumming and Claudia Winkleman will return as hosts, thankfully, but said little else.

However, there is some official and revealing information in the world. If you want to be on The Traitors, the UK casting application is now open. So is the US casting application.

The US’s application’s terms and conditions say “Filming will take place in the UK, and we will arrange all necessary travel for the successful applicants to attend filming.”

(The UK application does not mention that because, well, they’re casting people in the UK.)

The US casting site doesn’t go any further, like to say the show will be filmed in Scotland, where Ardross Castle is located. I wouldn’t be surprised to see it return there, though of course it could also switch locations, for creative or logistical reasons.

Both applications have the same due date: July 31, 2023, and both also say “the Closing Date may be extended or closed, for any reason, at our discretion without notice.”

A person wearing red, round spectacles and a yellow jacket
Alan Cumming and his fabulous fashion will be back for The Traitors US season 2 (Photo by Euan Cherry/Peacock)

More significantly, the applications say filming is “currently anticipated to be in Summer / Autumn 2023,” lasting for six weeks, though “this may change at our discretion without notice.”

Since The Traitors doesn’t take six weeks to film a single season, and since both are being produced by Studio Lambert, I’d guess they’ll once again be filming back-to-back, which makes things less expensive for both shows.

I’ll be greedy and say I’d love if they were filming four seasons back to back, so we can have two UK and two US every year, but that may be asking too much.

A massive wooden frame shaped like a humanoid with horns, on fire
The Traitors episode 1’s challenge ended with massive figures burning. (Photo by Euan Cherry/Peacock)

Assuming casting ends in the summer, and filming starts a month or two later, production on both seasons could end in early fall.

That’d mean late 2023 is the earliest we’d see either show, making it very possible that both the UK version and US version could premiere at roughly the same times they did (late November for UK, January for US).

That may be stretching things, though, and not allowing enough time for post-production. After all, the first seasons filmed in early summer 2022, and then didn’t premiere for another 6 to 8 months, which would mean 2024 premieres for both.

Interestingly, the The Traitors Australia, which has not yet been officially renewed by Network Ten, already closed its season two casting, and says it will be filmed “mid April to mid May 2023. (exact dates to be confirmed)“. That means we could very well have a second Australian version, perhaps even before the US and UK versions are filmed.

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About the author

  • Andy Dehnart

    Andy Dehnart is the creator of reality blurred and a writer and teacher who obsessively and critically covers reality TV and unscripted entertainment, focusing on how it’s made and what it means.

Discussion: your turn

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Happy discussing!

JF

Thursday 6th of April 2023

Love all three English-speaking editions! I agree with your assessment that it is the best new show/format in years (probably decades as you said). One of the comments mentioned a NZ edition. That would be EPIC! Like you I want twice a year from each. It's too addictive to wait this long.

Patrick

Wednesday 5th of April 2023

Excited for more US and UK! The UK cast was fantastic and Claudia is a truly delightful host. As for Australia, I hope they overhaul a lot. The cast was very drab, the host was even worse, and the production value just seemed lacking. Not to mention the tacky silver bars or the matching track suits (why?!). Some truly puzzling choices. That said, one thing I did like was the fact that there was a Shield challenge nearly every round, AND it protected from both banishment and murder. Now that is a smart choice because it makes the challenges actually have a purpose.

Across the board, I'm also hoping for the series to seem more evenly matched and not designed to make the Traitors win. It also seems like producers are just coming up with things on the fly. Oh, you can add a Traitor tonight, but not kill. Okay now you can add one and also kill. Oh, tonight, you can only 'put someone on trial.' Has Standards & Practices reviewed this game?!

Sue

Wednesday 5th of April 2023

Filming is apparently in progress for The Traitors NZ: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/spy-threes-new-show-the-traitors-nz-shrouded-in-secrecy/Y3BRSAVH5RCG7BNEXMVOXUJN3I/

Christopher

Wednesday 5th of April 2023

You should apply.