Tyra Banks Joins Project Runway Season 22 as Judge

A New Seat at the Judges' Table

Tyra Banks is returning to the world of fashion competition television, this time on one of the genre's most enduring titles. According to TVLine, the supermodel and America's Next Top Model-antm-documentary)-antm-documentary) creator will serve as a recurring judge on Season 22 of Project Runway, which premieres July 9 at 9:30 p.m. on Freeform, with streaming to follow on Hulu and Disney+.

The move deepens Banks' relationship with the franchise after she made a guest appearance during the previous season. It is a natural fit. Few figures in television carry as much fashion-competition pedigree, and her arrival immediately adds star wattage to a panel already full of recognizable names.

A Resume Built for the Runway

Banks' credentials in this space are hard to match. Per TVLine, she hosted America's Next Top Model for 23 of its 24 seasons before the series ended in 2018, and she created the show that helped define modeling competitions for a generation of viewers. That experience gives her a rare dual perspective, both as someone who has walked runways at the highest level and as a producer who understands exactly what makes a competition series work.

Stepping into the Project Runway judges' chairs places her alongside other heavyweights who have shaped the show's identity over its long run, and pairs her institutional knowledge of the format with the franchise's established voice.

A Record-Breaking Season

TVLine reports that Season 22 is built around the largest designer lineup in series history, featuring 22 designers from a range of backgrounds. The familiar core of the show, meanwhile, stays intact:

• Returning judges: Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia and Law Roach
• Returning mentor: Christian Siriano
• Guest judges: Ciara, Ice Spice, Iman, Kiernan Shipka and more

That expanded field signals an ambitious approach from producers, who appear to be using the milestone season to push the format to a larger scale than ever before. A bigger pool of designers means more personalities, more design philosophies and, potentially, more dramatic eliminations as the competition narrows.

Why It Matters

Banks' addition gives Project Runway another marquee name with deep ties to the modeling and fashion world, joining a panel already stacked with industry authorities. Her presence alongside Klum, Garcia and Roach sets up the prospect of sharp, knowledgeable runway critiques from people who have lived the realities of the business they are judging.

The casting also continues a notably busy stretch for Banks, whose name has surfaced in headlines for both new television work and high-profile legal matters. Returning to a competition format she helped popularize allows her to lean back into the arena where she first became a household name, while reaching the broad streaming audience that platforms like Hulu and Disney+ now command.

For longtime fans of fashion reality television, the appeal is straightforward. The combination of Banks' candid judging style, Klum's veteran hosting presence and a record-setting roster of designers promises a season with plenty of spark. Project Runway has remained a fixture of the genre by continually refreshing its talent and raising its ambitions, and bringing in one of the modeling world's most recognizable figures fits squarely within that tradition.

With its July 9 premiere approaching, the season arrives positioned as one of the franchise's most ambitious runs yet, per TVLine, anchored by an expanded competition and a judging panel that now includes one of the people most responsible for making this kind of show a television staple in the first place.