Survivor’s 47th season is set to premiere next month, but it won’t be long before Jeff Probst and the team are back in Fiji and filming the show’s milestone 50th season.
Casting is currently underway for Survivor 49, filming around April/May next year, which will then be followed by Survivor 50. As previously reported, the landmark 50th season will feature returning players for the first time since Survivor 40‘s epic Winners At War.
Speaking to Variety, host and showrunner Probst explained that he and the production team are already in the planning stages for Survivor 50, including working out who exactly will be on the cast.
“We just did a big season with 40. Winners at War was a battle. And we had a very clear theme: We’re going to give you every weapon we have and you all battle it out. Somebody’s going to end up bloody but victorious,” Probst told the outlet.
“So Survivor 50 is not going to be that,” he continued. “Fifty’s gotta be a celebration. Let’s do a great season of Survivor but put an emphasis on the word ‘fun.’ So, I’ve been going through these notes going, ‘That could be interesting,’ or — more often — ‘What were you thinking when you wrote that down because that makes no sense at all?’”
The biggest hurdle for Probst is deciding which handful of former castaways will get the invite to return out of the 700 or so people that have played Survivor. The Emmy-winning host said he’s narrowed the list down to around 100 potential options.
“We’re trying to figure out who’s gonna play in Survivor 50,” he shared. “We know it’s gonna be returning players. We started out with a list of around 200, like, every person we would like to see, regardless of whether they want to do it or not. And then we got the list down to 125 and now I have it down to around 100.”
He added, “I printed out their faces on 4×6 magnetic sheets with their names, the season they first played, and how old they will be if they play in 50. I’m going to put them on the whiteboard and take in the very first steps toward what I think will go down as the most enjoyable problem we’ve ever had to solve: How are you going to get this down to a handful of people to play Survivor 50 that will satisfy the fans and will honor 50 seasons?”
It’s certainly a huge decision for Probst and co, but if the team needs a little help, here at Inside Survivor, we’ve been sharing our 50 For 50 articles, suggesting castaways we’d like to see in the mix for Survivor 50.
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Old vs New era would be amazing (pre 40 and post 40):
Cidney, Jay, Chrissy, Domenic, Michael Y, Angelina, Christian, Nathalie Cole, Devens, Elaine
Shan, Cody, Jesse, Carolyn, Dee, Emily, Kaleb, Tiffany, Q, Charlie
Give us a great cast please. Celebration is great in the first 5 minutes (let’s have another toast) but then it should be back to the game we love…
Second chance II, Unfinished Business, Old vs New School / Era or Heroes vs Villains II please. Give us a theme please.. It makes it SO much better
Please no Colby or Jerri again, please no Rob or Rupert either.. So many one time players should get a second chance
The players need to be.
At least fifty years old.. What the hell do we want to keep seeing returning players and i’m Sure that good old Boston rob he’s gonna be on there..
Really hope the best S35 – S46 players will get a second chance (Chrissy, Christian, Angelina, Shan, Cody, Jesse, Carolyn).
No 4 or 6 or 7 timers please. They just played in WAW..
I really hope the cast is mostly POST game changers
hurry, we’re dying to know 🙂
Chrissy please. she was so robbed