'Dancing With the Stars: Juniors' Was Canceled After Only One Season

The hit reality dance competition Dancing With the Stars has been airing for 30 seasons now with more than 400 episodes in total since it started in 2005. The show pairs celebrities with professional dancers to see who can choreograph and execute the most impressive dances in front of a panel of judges and a national audience.

While the show had a dip in popularity for a time, the most recent seasons have revived it, with some big names as competitors.

Despite the longevity of the title, Dancing With the Stars has not had an equally successful spinoff. The most recent spinoff for the title was Dancing With the Stars: Juniors, though that hasn't been on-air for some time. What happened to the show?

In 2018, ABC premiered its first season of Dancing With the Stars: Juniors, featuring a cast of young contestants who had already made names for themselves in the world of showbiz. The contestants were either children of well-known public figures or young adults who had already made moves in the film and television industry. Each was paired with a junior ballroom dancer and a professional mentor to help them through the competition.

Contestants included Sarah Palin's grandson Tripp Johnston Palin, MasterChef Junior winner Addison Osta Smith, Scottie Pippen's daughter Sophia Pippen, Scripps National Spelling Bee participant Akash Vukoti, Alana "Honey Boo Boo" Thompson, Stevie Wonder's son Mandla Morris, professional skateboarder Sky Brown, and actors Miles Brown, Jason Maybaum, Ariana Greenblatt, Hudson West, and Mackenzie Ziegler.

It was skateboarder Sky Brown who ended up taking home the winning title, beating out even professional dancer Mackenzie Ziegler. This, of course, was before she went on to compete in the 2020 Summer Olympics for Great Britain.

The competition functioned very similarly to the original Dancing With the Stars format, though viewers couldn't vote from home (in-person audience members could, though). There were nine episodes in this inaugural season, airing a holiday special as part of the finale.

Unfortunately, it seems as though the new program was not successful, as, after only one season, ABC decided to cancel Dancing With the Stars: Juniors. The network offered no explanation as to why it was canceling the show, though it's assumed that its ratings were insufficient, causing the cancellation.

While the Twitter account for the show is still active, tweeting its congratulations to Sky after competing in the Olympics, the website for the show is no longer active.

This means it's very unlikely that the show will ever make a return, despite the immense popularity of the original show.

That being said, if you have some child stars you're hoping to see compete on the show, it's likely they will make their way to the program as they become of-age. Icons like JoJo Siwa have since joined the ranks of competitors, even though she only recently turned 18.

In the meantime, you can watch Dancing With the Stars when it airs on Mondays at 8 p.m. EST on ABC.