‘DWTS: Juniors’ Adds Val Chmerkovskiy, Adam Rippon and Choreographer Mandy Moore as Judges

Dancing With the Stars: Juniors has officially found its judges!

ABC’s children’s spin-off series of Dancing With the Stars, Dancing With the Stars: Juniors, has finally found its panel of judges, the network announced during a segment of Good Morning America on Monday.

When the 12 junior dancers and their celebrity counterparts take the stage in September, they will be facing a panel of judges consisting of Olympic figure skater and reigning Dancing With the Stars champion Adam Rippon, two-time Mirror Ball champ and DWTS professional Val Chmerkovskiy, and La La Land choreographer Mandy Moore.

“I was thrown into the fire [and] lived with the wolves. And that’s what I’m going to do with these kids,” Rippon revealed his judging strategy.

While there has not yet been any official casting announcements for the upcoming spinoff series, both Toddlers and Tiaras alum Alana ‘Honey Boo Boo’ Thompson, 12, and Sophia Pippen, the 9-year-old daughter of NBA player Scottie Pippen, were spotted rehearsing at the DWTS studios.

It has also been speculated that Rylee Arnold, Hailey Bills, Brightyn Brems, Artyon Celestine, JT Church, Kami Couch, Tristan Ianeiro, Lev Khmelev, Jake Monreal, Kamri Peterson, Sage Rosen, and Eliana Walmsley will be taking on the role of the tiny professional dancers that will help their teammates rise to the top and claim the Mirror Ball trophy.

The junior dancers will not be alone as they take on the hefty task, however, as they will reportedly be mentored by DWTS pros Cheryl Burke, Hayley Erbert, Jenna Johnson, Lindsay Arnold, Artem Chigvintsev, Keo Motsepe, Sasha Farber, Gleb Savchenko, Emma Slater, and Witney Carson. Carson publicly announced her involvement in the new series last month, stating her excitement for taking on the task during an interview with Entertainment Tonight.

“I’m gonna be involved, so I’m excited. It’s a good change of pace. I think people will like the kid version of it, it’s going to be super fun and I hope people will like it,” said Carson, who has served as a pro on DWTS for nine seasons. “I’m actually going to be a mentor to the couple — I don’t know who I have yet, probably somebody Disney, for sure, but I don’t know, so we’ll see.”

The first season of Dancing With the Stars: Juniors, which will consist 10 hour-long episodes, will air on Sundays at 8 p.m. ET beginning in September.