Survivor season 40, Winners at War, airing 2-hour premiere on Wednesday, February 12, 2020

The 20th-anniversary excitement begins the earliest in a while, as Survivor season 40 will premiere with a two-hour episode on February 12, 2020.

The merge is just around the corner in Survivor: Island of the Idols, but with the changes in and out of the CBS primetime schedule for the winter season, CBS is already looking to what’s next for the groundbreaking reality competition program.

As announced in a press release, Survivor season 40 will premiere with two hours of action on Wednesday, February 20, 2020, at 8 p.m. ET. Two-hour premieres typically mean two people will be going home in two separate Tribal Councils, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we were looking at yet another 20-person season for the 20th anniversary of the show.

There are plenty of rumors surrounding what will come next year, but one of those might have been debunked already. Though there will be a two-hour premiere, it appears as though the following week will return to a one-hour show as opposed to an extended 90-minute timeslot. It’s wild how rumors about Survivor episode time slots conflicts with the basic understanding of how networks make their schedules!

There are some exciting prospects with an earlier start to Survivor season 40. Since the 20th anniversary of the show’s beginning is on May 31, getting through this season might mean another anniversary party might be in store! More than two-thirds of the total players attended the 10th anniversary, but at the same time, the show was tapering off the peak of its popularity.

One thing we absolutely know is that the offseason will be a lot shorter. Island of the Idols is set to have its finale on Wednesday, December 18, so we will likely have a month or less between the end of season 39 and the official cast photos and other information surrounding season 40. That’s an exciting prospect for what will hopefully be another exciting milestone season of the show.