Considering the Traitors is a game of murderous treachery played out in a castle, the Shakespearean actors in the cast of the new celebrity spin-off series should be well set.
Oscar-nominated Richard E Grant, acclaimed actor Michael Sheen and The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey will be among the thespians vying for victory this year, all of whom have the Bard on their CV.
They are joined by Industry star Myha’la, comedian Miranda Hart and Love Island host Maya Jama.
Actor, model and ex-wife of Rupert Murdoch, Jerry Hall, former Little Mix star Leigh-Anne Pinnock and singer-songwriter James Blunt will also be competing.
In the hit BBC reality gameshow, hosted by Claudia Winkleman, 21 stars will head to a castle in the Highlands for the chance to win a cash prize of up to £100,000 for a charity of their choice.
The game follows the celebrity contestants as they try to seek out the murderous traitors among them, who kill off players in the middle of the night.
The comedian Alan Carr, an unlikely pick for the high-stakes role as traitor, managed to outwit Stephen Fry, Celia Imrie and Nick Mohammed to win the first celebrity series of the game.
It attracted a massive viewership, with the finale hitting a peak of 15.4 million viewers, according to the broadcaster. The series brought in an average audience of 14.9 million people during its run – the biggest TV audience of 2025.
The show was also a hit among young viewers. The overnight ratings for first series of The Celebrity Traitors – which measured the number of people watching live or later on the day of broadcast on iPlayer – revealed that more than half of the people aged between 16 and 24 who viewed the show within that time slot watched every episode of The Celebrity Traitors as it was broadcast.
A number of comedians will also join the second series of the spin-off show including James Acaster, Joe Lycett and Romesh Ranganathan – as well as Rob Beckett and Joanne McNally.
Others joining the lineup include Coronation street star Julie Hesmondhalgh, broadcaster Amol Rajan and actor Sharon Rooney.
Broadcaster and mathematician Prof Hannah Fry completes the lineup alongside content creator King Kenny and actor Sebastian Croft.
After the success of The Traitors, Winkleman fronted her own Friday night chatshow, The Claudia Winkleman Show. Her debut on 13 March drew in 1.5m viewers, slightly more than the last show of the 33rd series of The Graham Norton Show. Catch-up viewing added another 700,000.
The Traitors show has dominated UK screens since debuting in 2022. There is a two-hour immersive experience, a board game, a card game and the opportunity to buy branded full-length hooded cloaks.
The treacherous game is also to be adapted for the stage in what producers said would be a “bold and surprising” theatrical experience to open in London in 2027.
The stage production will involve Studio Lambert, the production company behind the TV series, and Neal Street Productions, a company co-founded by Sam Mendes.
• This article was amended on 3 May 2026. Richard E Grant has been Oscar-nominated (in 2019) but has not won that award as an earlier version said.
