TNS Season 8 Predictions

Announcement Predictions

Announcement date - 11th of April 2022
Chapter posted - 20th of April 2022

So, season 8 has now been *officially* announced and I thought, heck, why not post some hopes and predictions of what might happen in the upcoming season. I haven't really got much else to do and the photos shared by the cast has stirred up some thoughts. Without further ado,

- getting off to a strong start, I think I need to mention this first as many of my predictions rely on this point. I think season eight (8) will be the last season of The Next Step. With Covid restrictions, it's been, I believe nearly three years since the cast filmed season seven (7) (2019) and with that comes some problems. The cast has aged significantly and it's been a long enough period that many fans will have left the show behind (although this may pick up again with the new season) however this could affect ratings. At its current state, the airing of season eight (8) coincides with the tenth year anniversary of the shows' airing and rounding up to an even number of seasons (8) just looks nicer than say nine (9) seasons of the show. However, although this may be the last season of the show itself, I do think it can carry on partially through spin-off shows somewhat like Lost and Found.

- with it being the last season, I also think we will see the return of several characters from the last seven seasons. We can already see this with the return of Nick Maiorano who played Nick from Elite.  We also have clues that AcroNation might return in Season 8. So with the return of both, we may also see other characters return such as Thalia and Lucien. Hopefully, some other characters from the past A troupe might return; however, I think they will only appear through Zoom conversations and or small appearances to help either B Troupe or A Troupe.

- carrying on from that point. With this potentially being the last season, and with the premise of the show being whether A Troupe or B Troupe attend nationals, I think we know who will be attending the competition. Yes, I do believe B troupe will be heading to Nationals! However, with the whole last season thing, they can't therefore go to Internationals (or they can, and they just end the show with the premise that A Troupe continued to go through with the three step process of regionals, nationals and internationals). That said, what I mean is, we won't see another season of the cast go to internationals. I can't see it anyhow even if they decide to extend up to ten seasons either, because that means having season 9 be internationals and have season 10 be regionals again. And yes, with this  show, I can imagine them ending on an even number of seasons.

- with Covid restrictions, I don't believe a live audience can attend the Nationals competition either. The show could make up an excuse as to why the competition has no audience but I think the nationals competition will be broadcast online. I also foresee the return of AcroNation, Elite and other past dance companies as the competition for the current B Troupe heading to Nationals.

- the main focus for the first half of the season will be the tension between the current A Troupe and B Troupe; however, I think it will diffuse in the later half of the season. I think we'll have a comparison between this season and season five (5) where there was conflict between TNS East and TNS West. I think we will see some small dance battles and friendly competitions that will drive some of the drama and comedy within the show but by the second half of the season it will be decided that B Troupe will heading to Nationals and A troupe will accept it and support them during the competition. I also don't think we will see some big competition between the troupes where its a 'winner takes all situation' and in this instance the winner will attend the Nationals competition.

- before any serious competition can be drawn up between the groups, I think A Troupe will be given an opportunity by the producers of the DanceMania that they cannot refuse and so A Troupe will have DanceMania drama and B Troupe will have National drama.