NBC Sets September Premiere for The Traitors: New Blood — All-Civilian Cast, 22 Contestants, $250,000 Prize
NBC has slotted The Traitors: New Blood for a two-hour premiere on Thursday, September 17, starting at 8 p.m. ET/PT — the first U.S. edition of the hit competition format to field an all-civilian cast instead of reality-TV celebrities (Deadline).
The September 17 launch airs the first two episodes back to back. Two more episodes follow on September 24 in the same 8 p.m. slot, with subsequent episodes settling into Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC and streaming the next day on Peacock (Deadline).
Host Alan Cumming returns to the Scottish Highlands castle, presiding over 22 civilian contestants who compete in missions to build a prize fund worth up to $250,000. The cast spans a wide range of day jobs: Abbey Benjamin (nurse), Abby Lee (astrophysicist), Arisa Thomas (dog groomer), Ben McDonnell (barrel racer), Clyde Moser (teacher), Jay Vinnedge (physician), Joe Vanella (funeral director), Katie Fites (marketing manager), Kim Daily (lawyer), Kriste Lewis (realtor), Logan Smith (realtor), Madeline Kostopulos (construction manager), Mark Zgoda (personal trainer), Michael Foote (lawyer), Morgan Cook (content creator), Niyyah Hayes (therapist), Shane Beatty (ironworker), Sherry Kuehl (writer), Tomica Adams (pilot), Victor Vollbrechthausen (business executive), Wyatt Gillespie (designer), and Xavier Scruggs (MLB analyst) (Deadline).
Peacock released the official trailer on its YouTube channel on August 16, titled "OFFICIAL TRAILER — Trust No One… The New Traitors!" (YouTube). NBC had teased the season earlier, posting a narrated spot to its Facebook account in June announcing the September 17 arrival (Facebook).
The Traitors format — a deception-and-deduction game in which a hidden group of "Traitors" tries to eliminate "Faithful" contestants without being exposed — was created and developed by IDTV in cooperation with RTL Creative Unit and is distributed by All3Media International, part of Banijay Entertainment. Studio Lambert produces the U.S. version (Deadline).
Cumming also serves as executive producer alongside Mike Cotton, Sam Rees-Jones, Rosie Franks, Jack Burgess, Stephen Lambert, Tim Harcourt, and Doran Azouelos (Deadline).
For viewers who have followed the Peacock series through its celebrity-cast seasons, the civilian edition shifts the dynamic in a straightforward way: nobody on screen arrives with a public persona or an existing fan base. The game has to do the work.
