Is season 12 of American Ninja Warrior canceled? No.

The world has rapidly shifted over the last month. Many, many people in many industries have faced deep disappointment and drastic changes. American Ninja Warrior competitors and fans are among them. As government guidelines and recommendations changed, the Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and St. Louis tapings of season 12 were all postponed.

That leaves a lot of people wondering if season 12 is cancelled. It’s a fair question. At this point, it seems like the show will miss its usual debut time in late May/early June. How would all the Qualifiers take place before the National Finals? Could it even be pulled off this year?

We’re just as anxious for answers as everyone else. We reached out to NBC and A. Smith and Co, the production company behind the show, and asked if there’s anything they could share.

Here’s that response:

“We’re still planning to have an American Ninja Warrior season. The competition would obviously be starting later than normal, and airing on NBC later than normal, but we’re very very hopeful we’ll have a season 12, some how, some way.

Like everyone else, we’re watching the news, and coming up with contingency plans to re-start competition. We want to make sure it’s safe for everyone - Ninjas, their families, and our crew. As soon as the world events reach a place where we can establish new competition dates, we will get the word out as quickly as we can.

We hope all our Ninjas are still training as best they can, and staying positive.”

Let’s take a quick moment to appreciate that. No - the American Ninja Warrior season is not cancelled. It seems like it will be a while before we have answers, but those answers will eventually come.

Just imagine how good it’s going to feel to see our Ninjas back out there, demonstrating just how strong we ALL are, once these uncertain and shaky times are behind us.

Ninjas, keep training. Fans, keep waiting. American Ninja Warrior will come back.