The Traitors has moved past its reliance on celebrities, trading its familiar lineup of well-known names for an entirely civilian cast. Alan Cumming has marked the occasion by sending a raven bearing an invitation to 22 new contestants. The show’s latest season airs on NBC and Peacock, and it brings a new angle to the castle murder-mystery format, with the raven’s message signaling the shift to a whole new set of players.
A gathering comes together at a Scottish castle, where Cumming designates certain members as Traitors and the rest as Faithfuls. Each night, the Traitors may kill a Faithful after the group finishes a shared test, while the Faithfuls attempt to send others away to reveal the Traitors. The victor claims the prize money of $250,000.
The Formula Holds
Cumming’s formula hasn’t changed. He still declares Traitors and Faithfuls, and the nightly murders still happen after communal challenges. What has shifted is the cast makeup and a couple of rules. The Traitors now get to recruit another person to join them, and each time a Traitor is eliminated, the prize pot increases by $15,000. These are minor tweaks, but they keep the show from growing stale.
The season premiere begins with the contestants gathering aboard a steam train bound for the castle. One of them, Joe, a funeral director from Long Island, draws an analogy between the journey and the Harry Potter setting — except, he notes, everyone aboard wishes the others dead. That is precisely the mood the show intends to establish.
“It’s like goin’ to Hogwarts, except everyone wants to murder each other.”
A Rougher Edge
While the civilian lineup lacks the star power of the celebrity editions, it fails to deliver the memorable quotes that Lisa Rinna or Phaedra Parks provided. The show’s core elements remain intact, though: large personalities, some of whom end up dead in the dead of night.
This season’s tone has moved away from the campy and over-the-top style of earlier seasons. Instead, it resembles Survivor or Big Brother, with a group that is highly competitive, focused entirely on the cash prize, and planning their strategies right from the start. The drama is genuine, and so are the stakes — cash.
Early Promise
The group displays talent from the very beginning, though some performers take several episodes before they fully reveal their range. Three people on the team have already distinguished themselves.
- Kim, the lawyer pretending not to be a lawyer
- Michael, the lawyer absolutely embracing being a lawyer
- Joe the funeral director, who understands the assignment
The construction worker Madeleine is at least attempting to dress appropriately for the event. The hour is still early, but the range of personalities present points to a show that will likely find plenty of material to work with.
The Parting Shot
Cumming discloses that the Traitors he has selected get to name two additional contestants to compete for the final place in the Turret. Two masked figures appear as the chosen ones, even if we do not know who they are just yet.
The show’s format is built to deliver solid television, with dramatic banishments, secret Traitor gatherings in the turret, and the suspense of breakfast victim announcements all working together. What makes this season stand out is how it fully commits to excess: everything Alan does, says, and wears. The Real Housewives-style drama carries over into his castle, along with the chaotic energy of the gamers from Survivor, Big Brother, and The Challenge, who started as ordinary people but turned their skills into careers on strategic reality TV. The outfits are part of it too — there is no such thing as too much in Alan’s castle.
Our Call
While this version feels a little more rough around the edges than seasons past, it’s still everything we want out of a reality competition. The all-civilian cast brings a fresh edge to the show’s familiar castle murder-mystery formula, and the minor rule changes keep things interesting.
An all-civilian cast for Traitors sounds like a better world to us than none at all. This season delivers everything we expect from a reality competition.
STREAM IT!
Source material: “Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Traitors: New Blood’ on NBC and Peacock, a Housewife-Free, All-Civilian Cast Joins Alan Cumming for Murder and Mayhem,” Decider.
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