America's Next Top Model : Ashley Graham, Drew Elliott, Law Roach returning as judges

Joey Nolfi
Updated
America's Next Top Model : Ashley Graham, Drew Elliott, Law Roach returning as judges

America’s Next Top Model is keeping it in the family for cycle 24.

Supermodel Ashley Graham, PAPER magazine’s Drew Elliott, and “image architect” (and stylist to the stars) Law Roach will reprise their roles as panelists on the upcoming edition of the long-running reality show, which Tyra Banks will return to front later this year, VH1 announced Friday.

“America’s Next Top Model is my baby — I couldn’t stay behind the camera for too long. I’m excited to return to the new cycle as host and welcome back Ashley, Drew, and Law to the panel,” Banks said via press statement. “I trust their amazing talents and expertise will continue to bring a FIERCE edge to the competition, where for the first time ever we are doing away with age limits, and accepting prospective contestants from 18 to infinity!”

Rita Ora, who filled in for Banks across the show’s 23rd cycle — its first to air on VH1 (where it debuted to its highest ratings in five years) after broadcasting on The CW between 2006 and 2015 — will not return as a primary judge. Banks and Ken Mok, who launched the series in 2003 on UPN, will serve as executive producers once again.

As Banks previously confirmed, cycle 24 eliminates the 27-year age limit Top Model has enforced in the past, opening up the competition to model hopefuls of all ages.

“In putting these girls on the show and saying, ‘You are beautiful,’ I wasn’t necessarily telling them they were beautiful; I was using them as a vessel to tell millions of girls around the world who looked like them that they were beautiful,” Banks told EW during an exclusive interview earlier this year, explaining her dedication to casting Top Model as diversely as she can. “It’s so nice to see it’s normalizing. I guess Top Model has normalized what difference is in beauty.”

In April, former judges Nigel Barker, Jay Manuel, and Miss J. Alexander stirred fan anticipation when they posed together in a series on Instagram shots taken in New York City, where they teased a new collaborative project many believed to be related to a Top Model comeback. VH1 had no comment on the photos.

Production on Top Model‘s 24th cycle begins later this month, with a premiere currently slated for December.