As anticipated, the band might be again collectively on American Idol within the coming season.
Host Ryan Seacrest has signed on to return as host of the expertise competitors for its ninth season on ABC and twenty fourth general — for each the present and Seacrest, the one on-camera persona who has been with the present for its whole run up to now. Seacrest’s deal closing comes two weeks after judges Luke Bryan, Lionel Richie and Carrie Underwood signed new agreements for the 2026 version.
Seacrest’s new deal comes as American Idol is starting its new manufacturing cycle, with digital auditions happening for the subsequent couple of weeks. It’s develop into customary in recent times for Seacrest and the Idol judges to ink new offers simply earlier than the subsequent season will get rolling.
Final season, American Idol drew 7.25 million cross-platform viewers over 5 weeks for Sunday-night episodes, whereas the handful of Monday reveals got here in a bit under that. The present’s seven-day linear viewers (not together with streaming) was 5.87 million viewers for Sunday episodes and 5.15 million for Mondays, on par with the earlier 12 months. The brand new season is about to premiere within the first quarter of 2026.
Fremantle and 19 Leisure (a part of Sony Footage Tv) produce the collection. Showrunner Megan Wolflick government produces with 19 Leisure’s Eli Holzman and Aaron Saidman.