It’s no secret “The Traitors” has built a faithful fanbase in just four seasons on Peacock. However, you may be surprised to learn that its upcoming civilian spinoff on NBC has already received over 60,000 applications — with nearly 1,000 more submitted every day since the Season 4 finale.
“As reality television has evolved, the social experiment has evolved. In some ways, the social experiment gameplay has become a little copy and repeat. ‘Traitors’ feels different, and I think that’s why there’s such a mass appeal to it,” casting director Allison Kaz told TheWrap. “Celebrities come with a fanbase, they come with a built-in character, they come with time built up where the audience has bought into who they are and their story. When casting civilians, we need the audience to buy in from day one, so you really need that person to be able to translate through the camera.”
Since the non-celeb spinoff was announced in August, the show has received more than twice the number of applications your other favorite reality shows typically get. In fact, an open casting call at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut last week saw a turnout of more than 1,500 hopefuls just in person, which is unprecedented for modern casting calls in a market of that size.
“We were tracking pre-registrations, so as that number grew, we kind of knew the turnout was going to be massive,” Kaz shared. “We had the benefit of the celebrity season airing during our casting, and the fan response to the civilian version has been truly a positive reminder to how many people just want to play the game.”
“Somebody at the open call asked me, ‘What do I think contestants back in the day when reality TV was just starting had that contestants today don’t?’ I think the difference is we are in an era of video. We are in an era of permeated media that is everywhere and everyone knows the minute the camera is on. There is a type of rhetoric, a type of speech that has become part of our lexicon, that has become natural, and, quite honestly, it’s not very authentic. People have learned a certain speech in a certain pattern, and I think that has hurt us in some way, because we want to get back to authenticity,” she continued. “I always say it’s the person that can can make a video as if they’re FaceTiming a friend, it’s a person who comes across the screen as if they’re in the room with you; not as somebody that’s just telling you about themselves, but somebody you sort of feel who they are by how they are able to come across on camera.”
Kaz herself has had a hand is casting some of the best shows in the genre, including “Beauty and the Geek,” “Making It,” “Lego Masters,” “MasterChef” and “Deal or No Deal Island,” just to name a few. So what exactly is the NBC casting team looking for this time around?
“We want a variety within the cast — we want a variety in age, a variety in demographic, a variety in background, all of it. This is not ‘one size fits all’ or ‘copy and repeat.’ A lot of times on reality shows you get your archetypes, but coming into this, that couldn’t be further from the truth,” she noted. “I think archetypes are a bit outdated, in my opinion. We want people who are real. We want people that make you feel some sort of way. We want people to root for, to root against, people who make you lean in and listen, and, ultimately, want to inspire other viewers watching.”
And don’t worry, they’re not looking to paint anyone as the bad guy — unless you actively give them the material, that is.
“When you go in trying to cast a villain, it will almost always backfire, because your villains emerge based on the group dynamic. And it’s never the person that you think is necessarily going to be that,” Kaz explained. “A lot of times you do see on social media, ‘Oh, they only cast this person because they are this way.’ No, we actually cast that person because they were able to evoke some sort of emotional reaction within someone making those decisions. How they actually played the game is ultimately what informed their character arc.”
Fans of the franchise will recall that the first season already featured regular folk playing alongside their more famous competitors (with “Survivor” star Cirie Fields famously winning the whole thing as a Traitor). Internationally, the game is more often played with civilian contestants — half and half in Canada, or two separate versions in the U.K., for example.
“Season 1, nobody knew what the show was, so people were coming on to play a very unique game for the very first time. As the seasons evolved — and this is true on any reality show — strategies evolve, methodologies evolve, characters evolve,” Kaz said. “I think people come in with a lot more preconceived notions than they did at the very beginning, so it is a lot harder to weed through all that, to find those that are authentic and not necessarily telling you what they think we want to hear.”
“Every time the show airs in any country, whether it’s a civilian or a celebrity season, there is a new U.S. fan that’s watching the show that is going to apply for ‘Traitors’ that would never apply for any other TV show,” she continued. “I think that is kind of what sets ‘Traitors’ apart from every other show, the game permeates to so many people. It reminds them of the nostalgia of playing mafia when they were growing up. It reminds them of what they’re having to deal with on a day-to-day basis, just going out and stepping foot into the world with truth and deception and lies. Who do you trust? How do you navigate things within your own life and your career? There are not a lot of reality television shows where new fans are emerging that would only apply to one show versus another, and ‘Traitors’ has that ability.”
Naturally, Emmy-winning host Alan Cumming will be returning to the castle for both Season 5 on Peacock and the first season of the civilian edition on NBC — and he couldn’t be more excited.
“With real people, we the audience and me as the host, have to learn and find out about them and slowly get to know them, so it’ll be a different dynamic,” Cumming told TheWrap. “I’m actually really looking forward to it, and also I feel like it’s an interesting way for us to sort of reboot the show, in a way.”
“Me and Sam Spector, my stylist, are looking at it as a way to kind of bring it back down a little bit to the sort of dandy Scottish laird rather than, you know, me dressed as a coffin. It’ll be quite good to sort of reboot it, bring it back down a wee bit to its roots of dandy, tartan-y, tailored, dashing, crazy, and then kind of bring it back up again for the celebrity ones,” he added. “It’s also a shorter show on NBC, so there’s a lot of changes.”
Plus, that inevitably means a civilian or two could even become reality stars in their own right off the NBC show and pop up as celebrity contestants on the Peacock version.
“I can’t wait for that, ‘All-Stars Traitors.’ I just think that’d be such fun,” Cumming concluded. And fear not, you still have a chance to make the cut.
“Casting is not wrapped up, casting is not locked. We’re never locked until you’re told you’re on the show, quite honestly. You could have applied three months ago or you could apply yesterday and you still have an opportunity to make the show,” Kaz confirmed. “We also have people that will apply for one season of a show, not make it, and they’ll make Season 2 or Season 3. As we’re shaping the cast, the group dynamic of the entire cast really informs who else is going to be added to the picture, so you can throw your hat in one season and you can always make another.”
“The Traitors” Seasons 1-4 are available to stream on Peacock.
