Xochitl Gomez Is The MCU's First 'Dancing With The Stars' Contestant
Xochitl Gomez Is The MCU's First 'Dancing With The Stars' Contestant
The 'Multiverse of Madness' star is one of fourteen contestants in the long-running competition
Dancing with the Stars has never been known for getting A-list stars. And they still aren’t. But that means most actors recruited for the Marvel Cinematic Universe don’t tend to overlap with that of the long-running competition returning to ABC after a season of Disney+ exclusivity. This season it might seem like madness, but one prominent actress from the franchise has fallen into their grasp.
Xochitl Gomez, who starred as America Chavez in last year’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, is one of fourteen stars cast to compete this season, and one of the ten announced Wednesday. She is paired with professional dancer Val Chmerkovskiy, who hasn’t missed a season since the twelfth. Four celebrities were unveiled before the full reveal: The Bachelorette’s Charity Lawson, paired with Artem Chigvintsev, Vanderpump Rules’s Ariana Madix paired with Pasha Pashkov, actress Mira Sorvino paired with Gleb Savchenko, and Zoey 101 and 102 star Jamie Lynn Spears, paired with Alan Bersten.
Announced with Gomez include Buffy and How I Met Your Mother’s Alyson Hannigan paired with Sasha Farber, The Brady Bunch’s Barry Williams paired with Peta Murgatroyd, Veep’s Matt Walsh (therefore the good Matt Walsh) paired with Koko Iwasaki, reality stars Harry Jowsey and Mauricio Umansky paired with Rylee Arnold (nine-season veteran Lindsay’s younger sister making her debut) and Emma Slater respectively, supermodel Tyson Beckford paired with Jenna Johnson, singer Jason Mraz paired with Daniella Karagach, YouTube personality Lele Pons paired with Brandon Armstrong, and, to the justified shock of many, including dancer alum Sharna Burgess, former NFL running back Adrian Peterson, previously charged with child abuse of his son, then 4 years old, paired with Britt Stewart.
Back to Gomez, her first onscreen role was on the Disney Channel sitcom Raven’s Home, but her first lead role was as Dawn Schafer in Netflix’s The Babysitter’s Club, a role she was recast out of once she was cast in Multiverse of Madness. There are two other Marvel Cinematic Universe actors who have competed in the franchise, but there are caveats. Zendaya was the youngest competitor ever when she ended up runner-up in 2013’s season 16, but that was when she was still on Shake It Up, before being cast as Michelle Jones in the franchise’s Spider-Man movies. Ariana Greenblatt, now known for her roles in Barbie and as young Ahsoka Tano in the most recent episode of Ahsoka as of writing, competed on the Juniors edition and also was a runner-up in 2018, just months after her role as young Gamora in Avengers: Infinity War, though her starring on Stuck in the Middle, was far more emphasized.
Dancing With the Stars season 32 begins Tuesday September 26 at 8/7c on ABC and Disney+.
Source: TVLine