The Traitors: New Blood Trailer Is Here and These Civilians Are Ready to Lie

Move over reality TV royalty, because The Traitors is letting the regular people into the castle, and judging by the first trailer for The Traitors: New Blood, they did not come to Scotland to make friends. NBC dropped the official trailer today, giving fans their first real look at the highly anticipated all civilian edition of the hit reality competition series. With 22 everyday Americans entering Alan Cumming’s legendary castle and up to $250,000 on the line, the biggest question is no longer whether these players can lie. It is whether they can lie well enough to survive.

Welcome to the Castle, New Blood

For the first time in the U.S. version of The Traitors, the cast isn't made up of familiar reality stars, actors and celebrities. Instead, NBC has recruited 22 contestants from across the country, with backgrounds ranging from funeral directors and astrophysicists to lawyers, teachers and other everyday professions. They may not have reality TV experience, but the trailer makes one thing very clear: these people have absolutely no problem embracing the lying, manipulating and backstabbing required to make it to the end.

The new season takes the contestants back to the Scottish Highlands, where they will compete in missions to build their prize fund while secretly trying to figure out who among them has been chosen as a Traitor. The Faithful have to identify and banish the Traitors before they are eliminated themselves, while the Traitors have one very simple goal: make it to the end with the money. Sounds easy, right? Sure. Ask anyone who has watched this show how that usually works out.

Alan Cumming Is Back and Looking Fabulous

Thankfully, one very important part of The Traitors formula isn't changing. Alan Cumming is back as host, and he looks every bit as entertained by the incoming disaster as we are. From the dramatic castle arrivals to the suspicious glances around the roundtable, Cumming appears ready to watch these strangers immediately question everything they know about one another.

The trailer wastes very little time showing us that the civilians are bringing their own personalities into the game. One contestant proudly declares that she puts the "gas" in gaslighting, while others promise to be conniving, deceptive and downright mischievous. Yes, ma'am, we heard you, and we are already wondering how long it takes before someone regrets announcing that strategy out loud.

Forget Famous Faces, These Players Have Everything to Prove

The all-civilian format is arguably the biggest experiment The Traitors has attempted in the U.S. so far. Previous seasons have benefited from contestants who already understand reality television, know how to build an alliance and, in some cases, have years of experience navigating these kinds of games. New Blood removes much of that familiarity, meaning viewers won't have the same built-in expectations when the contestants start turning on each other.

That could make the game especially unpredictable because these players don't necessarily know how their fellow contestants will react when the pressure starts mounting. Someone who seems sweet could become the mastermind of the season, while the person loudly insisting they would make a brilliant Traitor could be the first one everyone sends packing. We have seen this show before, and somehow we still fall for it every single time.

The Prize Is Up to $250,000

Of course, nobody is going to a Scottish castle simply for the complimentary tea. The contestants are competing for a prize fund worth up to $250,000, which gives every murder mystery, mission and roundtable accusation some very real stakes. The Faithful need to eliminate every Traitor to share the money, but if a Traitor survives until the end, they can walk away with the prize instead.

And that is where things get deliciously complicated. The contestants have to work together to increase the prize while simultaneously wondering whether the person standing next to them is secretly plotting their elimination. Trust is basically a luxury item in this castle, and judging by the trailer, nobody seems particularly interested in buying it.

When Does The Traitors: New Blood Premiere?

The Traitors: New Blood premieres Thursday, September 17, 2026, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC with a special two-hour premiere featuring Episodes 1 and 2. The competition continues the following Thursday, September 24, with Episodes 3 and 4 airing back-to-back, before the show settles into its regular weekly schedule. New episodes will also stream on Peacock the following day.

The trailer definitely has us curious about whether an all-civilian cast can deliver the same deliciously suspicious television that made The Traitors such a hit in the first place. There is something particularly entertaining about watching people who have never met suddenly decide that someone is lying based on nothing more than the way they blinked during breakfast. Add a giant Scottish castle, secret murders, a $250,000 prize and Alan Cumming watching from the sidelines, and we have ourselves a recipe for some seriously addictive reality TV.

So, are you ready for The Traitors: New Blood? Because the castle doors are opening, the civilians are already sharpening their lies, and somewhere inside that group of 22 contestants is a person who is about to become everybody's worst nightmare. Honestly, we cannot wait to find out who it is.

The Traitors: New Blood premieres September 17 on NBC and streams the next day on Peacock. Let the paranoia begin.