Survivor season 36 premiere date has been announced

As we approach the end of Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, CBS has announced the premiere date for Survivor season 36, rumored to be subtitled “Ghost Island.”

While the final third of Survivor Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers is about to heat up, CBS is already looking to the future (as they tend to do for advertising and marketing reasons). CBS has announced their winter scheduling plans for 2018, announcing that Survivor season 36 will begin with a February 28, 2018 premiere date.

It will be a two-hour episode, with a reasonable expectation at this current season’s finale that we’ll see the reveal of what Survivor season 36 will be called: Survivor Ghost Island. There seems to be a great deal of rumored information about the upcoming season, with all 20 of the rumored castaways allegedly identified, presenting the youngest average age of any season of the show.

With 20 players rumored for the cast, it makes sense that CBS isn’t taking any chances by starting with a two-hour premiere. These bloated casts need to burn through players quickly if they are to end on a 14-episode note, and in seasons as recent as Millennials vs. Gen X, we’ve seen two players booted near the finale in the span of a one-hour episode, giving them the shortest sendoff possible.

Apparently, Survivor season 36 will feature a series of advantages that play on the mistakes of players of the past, including Erik Reichenbach’s Immunity Necklace that he gave away in Micronesia and James Clement’s two Hidden Immunity Idols from China that he went home with before using either one. It seems like Ghost Island will focus on the ghosts of errors past, making it more of a challenge for those recruits who haven’t seen a ton of the past seasons.

Next: Survivor: Ranking all 34 seasons

Survivor Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers continues with episode 12, “Not Going to Roll Over and Die,” airing December 6 at 8 p.m. ET.