Julianne Hough Not Returning to ‘DWTS’

Julianne Hough announced on Tuesday exclusively to Entertainment Tonight that she would not be returning Dancing With the Stars. Instead, she will be joining her brother, Derek Hough for World of Dance.

The 29-year-old told ET that she will be making an appearance on season two of NBC’s dance competition with Jennifer Lopez.

“I actually just did a mentor session with [Derek]. He asked me to come and mentor, so, yeah. I just did it the other day,” she said of her involvement, with the series returning this May. “It was so much fun and the dancers are incredible.”

Houghcalled the experience “cool,” especially as she gets to reunite with her brother and some of the talented dancers the two featured on her and Derek’s dance tour, “Move – Beyond – Live on Tour.”

“There’s actually a couple of people that were on our tour that are now doing [World of Dance],” she explained. “It’s so amazing when you can see people that you’ve worked with [before] and just see them grow and, like, blossom into these incredible dancers or whoever they want to become. There’s like a proud mama feeling; ‘Oh, you were such a baby, and look at you now!’ It’s so awesome.”

While Hough shared the news of her novel gig on the NBC series, that means she will not be returning to Dancing With the Stars for its 26th season. In addition to her new gig on World of Dance, Hough explains she will be taking her talents to TV with a new series in the works called Blackpool, that’s been called a mix between Black Swan, I, Tonya and Moulin Rouge.

“So many things are happening,” she explained. “Obviously, Dancing has always been my family. I was on it, I left for a little while, I came back. So, who knows what will transpire [in the future]. But as of right now, I’m focusing on that show [Blackpool], my acting and then my music. That’s really sort of my focus right now.”

Hough also highlights how she has been brainstorming new “music ideas” in the last few weeks, sharing with ET that she has been “figuring out the sound” as of lately.

“I’ve just been like, ‘Wow.’ A lot of people ask me all the time, ‘What do you like more, dancing, singing or acting?’ and I’ve always said they fulfill something different,” she said. “I almost feel like, because I haven’t been doing my music, it’s almost trickled down to the other, to my acting and dancing. So, I’m like, ‘Oh, I need to do it all. It feeds my soul.’”

Hough played coy though when revealing any further details of her new music.

“The way music is now, you can put out one single, you can put out a music video, you can put out an album… whatever you want to do. But I just want to create music the way that it moves my soul. [I’m] not trying to do it for anyone else, just for the pure creation.”

World of Dance returns May 29 at 10 p.m. ET, while Dancing With the Stars returns April 30 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC, and will feature all-athletes. It is unknown which other pros will be returning to the ABC series this spring.