Dancing With the Stars: Matt Walsh to Rejoin Cast for Tuesday’s Premiere After WGA Reaches Deal to End Strike

Dave Nemetz
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Dancing With the Stars will have its full complement of stars when it kicks off its new season on ABC this Tuesday.

Veep alum Matt Walsh will return to the show now that the WGA has reached a deal to end the strike, a representative for the actor tells our sister site Deadline: “With the hopeful resolution and vote with the WGA, Dancing With the Stars would no longer be a struck show therefore all cast would be able to return. This includes WGA member Matt Walsh.”

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Walsh was set to be one of the dancing celebrities in Season 32 of DWTS, paired up with pro partner Koki Iwasaki, but last week, he announced he was “taking a pause” from the upcoming cycle until the writers’ strike is resolved, having learned that participation in Dancing With the Stars goes against WGA strike guidelines. (Actors who perform as Dancing With the Stars contestants are not breaking SAG-AFTRA strike rules, but the show does employ one WGA writer; contestants would therefore be crossing the writers’ strike picket line by participating in the show.)

“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,” Walsh said in a statement. “This morning when I was informed by my union, the WGA, that it is considered struck work I walked 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 many 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.”

Thankfully, the WGA announced on Sunday night they had reached a tentative deal with the AMPTP to resolve the months-long contract impasse and end the strike. That allows shows like Saturday Night Live and daytime and late night talk shows to get back on the air in the near future, but the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike means that production on scripted shows will remain paused until the actors reach an agreement with the AMPTP.

Dancing With the Stars Season 32 Cast
Dancing With the Stars Season 32 Cast

Dancing With the Stars: Meet the Season 32 Cast

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