General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20266 min read

Drag Race South Africa

Drag Race South Africa is an upcoming South African reality competition series in the Drag Race franchise, adapted from RuPaul's Drag Race. It was greenlit by the production company World of Wonder on October 20, 2024, as the first version of the format from Africa, and it will premiere exclusively on the streaming service WOW Presents Plus worldwide.¹

Key fact	Detail
Greenlight	Announced October 20, 2024 by World of Wonder; the first African version of the Drag Race format¹
Network	WOW Presents Plus, exclusive worldwide¹
Production	World of Wonder Productions; casting in South Africa set to begin in 2025¹^•²
Franchise position	South Africa is the 15th international edition of the franchise; Antarctica remains the only continent without a version³^•⁴
WOW Presents Plus original	The third version greenlit as a WOW Presents Plus global original, after Drag Race Mexico¹
Status	In development; no premiere date, host, judges, or cast announced as of 2026⁵^•⁶

Spoilers

Plot

The series had not premiered as of the information available, and World of Wonder had released no details about its cast, format tweaks, judges, or episode count. What is known is the shape the announcement gives it.

The story begins in Los Angeles and Cannes in October 2024, where World of Wonder, the production company behind the entire Drag Race empire, declared that the franchise's next frontier is South Africa. The company announced the series at Mipcom Cannes on October 21, 2024 and followed with a press release on October 22, confirming that WOW Presents Plus had greenlit the show as one of its global originals.¹³^•¹⁴ Casting was scheduled to open across South Africa in 2025, meaning the search for the country's first competing queens was underway before a single runway look had been filmed.¹⁴

If the series follows the Drag Race template, as every international version has, viewers can expect a field of South African drag artists living together, facing weekly maxi challenges that test comedy, fashion, performance, and charisma, walking themed runways, and sending the two weakest performers of each week into a lip sync for their lives until one queen claims the inaugural crown. Which of South Africa's established performers will answer that call is exactly the question the casting call was designed to answer.

Characters

No cast had been announced. The one name attached to the story so far is Manila von Teez, a South African drag performer with fourteen years in the art form and a runner-up finish on SA's Got Talent, who reacted enthusiastically to the greenlight and offered encouragement to queens unsure about entering.⁹ Whether she competes, hosts, or judges remains to be seen.

Sequels, spin-offs, and adaptations

Drag Race South Africa is itself an adaptation of RuPaul's Drag Race, the American format created by World of Wonder, and joins an international family that includes versions in Canada, the United Kingdom, Thailand, the Philippines, Mexico, and more.¹⁵ It is the third international version greenlit as a WOW Presents Plus global original, after Drag Race Mexico.¹⁴

Announcement

World of Wonder, the company behind the Drag Race franchise, announced the greenlight on October 20, 2024 through its social media accounts and a press release timed to the MIPCOM market in Cannes.¹^•⁷ The announcement stated that the series would feature a brand-new cast of queens bringing their own style, talent, and culture to the mainstage, and that casting in South Africa would begin in 2025.¹

Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, the co-founders of World of Wonder, framed the edition as part of a stated aim to bring the format to every continent and country.¹ The news landed a few days before the Johannesburg Pride parade, and South African social media users responded by tagging local drag artists on the producers' posts.³

Place in the franchise

Drag Race South Africa is the fifteenth international edition of the franchise, joining versions from Thailand, Canada, the United Kingdom, Spain, Mexico, Brazil, Germany, and other countries.³ With South Africa added, Antarctica became the only continent without its own version.⁴ It is also the third version commissioned directly as a WOW Presents Plus global original, following Drag Race Mexico, whose second season drew a 40% increase in viewership over its first and was renewed for a third.¹

The platform hosting the series had subscribers in 190 territories, a 31% year-over-year increase in watch time, and a 38% increase in subscribers since the start of 2024 at the time of the announcement.¹

Fan context and the South African drag scene

The greenlight followed years of calls from fans for an African version, a campaign that dates back to BeBe Zahara Benet, who made her African heritage a center point of her drag persona while winning the first season of RuPaul's Drag Race in 2009.¹^•⁸

South Africa has a large established drag community. The Showmax Original reality series Beaulah: Queens van die Kaap, which debuted in 2024, spotlighted Cape Town's drag industry, and Cape Town drag queen Manila von Teez, a runner-up on SA's Got Talent who has performed in drag for 14 years, publicly welcomed the news.⁹ Local reaction was not uniformly enthusiastic: some South African commentators publicly opposed any role for television personality Somizi Mhlongo, citing his history, and others questioned whether the production would reflect local talent well.¹⁰

Production status

The series remains in development. Database listings record it as upcoming or in development on WOW Presents Plus, with no episodes aired.²^•⁶ As of 2026, no premiere date, host, judging panel, or cast had been confirmed, and one franchise tracker noted that no updates had followed the original October 2024 announcement.⁵ Unofficial reports and fan speculation have variously pointed to a 2025 or 2026 premiere and to filming outside South Africa, but none of these details has been officially confirmed.¹¹^•¹²

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026