Survivor fans: Do you even want an all-winners or legends season?

Though many are positing whether there will be a Survivor season with all winners or legends of the game, do fans even want it so soon?

There’s been a lot of buzz surrounding seasons 39 and 40 of Survivor. For the past few years, there’s been speculation ranging from proclamations from former players, to open trolling on social media by former winners, to weird clues offered by the casting team. Long story short; there’s no confirmation of anything, but the players would be game if it were possible.

Logistical nightmares and players’ scheduling aside, there are a few good arguments for or against a Survivor season with all-winners or “legends” of the game. For the purpose of this analysis (then later, a poll for you to vote in), a “legend” of the game is a player who is popular and has played well in the game. Cirie Fields, Kim Spradlin, Eliza Orlins, Rob Cesternino, Malcolm Freberg and John Cochran all qualify.

First off, I can see why people don’t want another season type filled with all-star players. Game Changers aired just a year ago, and the attempt of bringing some of the most dynamic players saw the interesting powerhouses (and vile players) go out pre-merge, leaving boring players and an apocalyptically dumb number of powers send home a player who received zero votes at Tribal. It happened in All-Stars, too, making it seem like all the stars aligned for Heroes vs. Villains.

With season 38, Edge of Extinction, bringing back four players serving as captains, it would mean three seasons with returning players in a span of seven, and it’s possible that Aubry Bracco could be in every single one of them. That’s not to dismiss a character worthy of being a four-time player, but the fact that it’s possible for a Survivor legend to play four times in nine seasons is ridiculous.

Even if it was an all-winner season, I doubt we wouldn’t see a result similar to Game Changers, where the big threats are picked off one by one because they can’t handle being a teammate and not a leader in a group of scheming masterminds. Sarah Lacina’s game was impressive, but it didn’t make the season at large very interesting.

On the other hand, the basic casts of modern Survivor haven’t been scintillating, either. We have seen fun characters emerge from recent seasons such as Ben Driebergen, Joe Mena, Lauren Rimmer, Ali Elliott, Stephanie Johnson, Chris Noble, Wendell Holland, Domenick Abbate and Kellyn Bechtold, but these past seasons have produced mundane products hampered by awful twists or predictable gameplay.

As such, bringing the best of the best back for returnee legends seasons might make sense for Survivor fans. The production team just going to throw more overpowered advantages and other wrinkles into the game to make it more influences like Big Brother anyways, so why not pit the very best and most entertaining against each other?

We’ve also seen a great batch of recent winners, with some of them being capable women such as Sarah Lacina, Michele Fitzgerald and Natalie Anderson. Demographically, CBS has found it hard to cast for an all-winners season due to older women winners that might have dropped out of the spotlight, but these players would work well to improve the roster along the likes of Tina Wesson, Parvati Shallow, Sandra Diaz-Twine and Denise Stapley.