American Ninja Warrior season 12 will debut Monday, September 7

Here it is, people, THE BIG ANNOUNCEMENT.

American Ninja Warrior will return on Monday, September 7 with a brand new season!

The show will air on Monday nights at 8pm EST/PST. Season 12 will be eight episodes long with a new format. 50 invited athletes each brought two community members to compete alongside them. The 150 Ninjas all competed in St. Louis and move through multiple rounds.

The biggest difference? With no National Finals in Las Vegas this year, the show will work its way towards a final play-off bracket with head-to-head races on the Power Tower. The winner nets $100,000.

Here’s the official announcement from NBC, including details on what will be different about this season.

Season 12 of NBC’s four-time Emmy Award-nominated athletic competition series “American Ninja Warrior” will premiere Monday, Sept. 7 with a two-hour episode beginning at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

The top 50 athletes will bring along two people from their communities to compete with them for a total of 150 competitors. The series will feature an abridged format with multiple rounds: Qualifiers (6 obstacle course), Semi-Finals (10 obstacle course) and Finals (10 obstacle course + Power Tower playoff bracket).

To determine the winner during the Finals, the top eight ninjas will compete in a playoff bracket where they will race head-to-head on the Power Tower. The winner will earn $100,000.

Production for the eight-episode series took place in St. Louis at the Dome at America’s Center. “American Ninja Warrior” is the first NBC series to have completed a full season of episodes during the current pandemic.

The most recent cycle of “American Ninja Warrior” last summer averaged a 1.1 rating in adults 18-49 and 5.4 million viewers overall in “live plus seven day” Nielsens and grew after 35 days of digital and linear delayed viewing to a 2.0 in 18-49 and 9.2 million viewers. The year-ago cycle of “Ninja” scored as Monday’s most-watched program on the Big 4 networks with each of its last five telecasts (“live plus same day”).

The series is executive produced by A. Smith & Co. Productions’ founders Arthur Smith and Kent Weed along with Brian Richardson, Anthony Storm and Kristen Stabile.

We’re just going to say it: WE ARE SO EXCITED.