Jeff Probst is officially on the Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans hype train. The host and executive producer of the best reality TV series of all time is doing a ton of press for the upcoming season, but he's also let a few things slip about the future of Survivor.
Probst was asked in a USA Today interview if Survivor will be doing more returning player seasons following Survivor 50, and he had great news for fans.
Jeff Probst reveals there will be more returning player seasons after Survivor 50
Probst basically gave a verbal thumbs up for bringing more players back in the near future.
"One hundred percent. We love returning-player seasons. The only reason we waited this many years is that you had to find players you wanted to see come back. After Season 40, we thought, 'Now we need to go get a new crop of players, and then we'll do a returning-player season.' I would definitely expect another returning-player season before five years."
Heading into Survivor 50, it's been a long time since we've had a season with returning players. We've gone basically six years without returning players in Survivor. The last time we had returning players was in Survivor: Winners at War, which aired in 2020.
Then, Survivor's new era began, and we had nine full seasons with new players. While seasons with new players will obviously continue, it's good to know that Survivor is going to go back to the well and give other standout players a chance, even if they didn't make the Survivor 50 cast.
Probst finished his answer by confirming the players who were passed over for Survivor 50 will be considered for future seasons when it makes sense.
"And, yes, there are players we would love to invite back that we would have had in Season 50 if we had room. Hopefully, when we call in the future, their feelings won't be hurt and they'll say yes."
That's an interesting answer, for sure. I was a little bit worried what Survivor 50 might mean to the future of the franchise. Did they turn off other players from returning because they didn't pick them for this massive season? Is this the end of that era and we're just moving forward with new era players or new players?
There are so many important players who were not asked back for Survivor 50. You could build another season of 18-24 players who deserved a spot but didn't get the call.
We don't know if Probst is referring to a handful of returning players to play alongside new players, but he could also mean that they are going to to do full seasons with returning players in the near future, too.
We'll just have to see how it plays out, but it's obviously great news that Survivor is willing to bring back some of the players that made fans fall in love with and enjoy the game. Even in the new era, there are so many players that could have been invited back for Survivor 50 who I would love to see in new seasons. Hopefully, we'll get to see that sooner rather than later.
We already know Survivor is renewed for season 51. We should see the Survivor 52 renewal soon, because the seasons are filmed back to back out in Fiji starting this spring. Will we be seeing those returning players as early as those seasons? Probst didn't comment.
Personally, I doubt we'll see it in Survivor 51. That might feel like a rejects version of Survivor 50, but we could definitely see it after that season, especially if Survivor brings back the themed seasons like Heroes vs. Villains 2 or something like that.
Stay tuned for the future of Survivor post-season 50, but first, we have a great season, the biggest ever, to watch. Survivor 50 premieres on Wednesday, Feb. 25, and continues on Wednesday nights through May 20.