'American Idol' host Ryan Seacrest: All former judges will be back for Season 15

American Idol host Ryan Seacrest has revealed all of the former members of the show's judging panel will return for Season 15 as a tribute to the Fox franchise's last edition on the air.


"We will have the former judges back," Seacrest told E! News as Idol's famous Hollywood Week is filming.

When asked for clarification on whether that means ALL of them, Seacrest confirmed, "Yeah! The plan is to have all of them back. They've all considered it and I think are enthusiastic about coming back and saluting the show."

Seacrest additionally told Access Hollywood: "I've spoken to all of them recently... They are going to do it, it's just a matter of figuring what to do with them."

It's unclear what role all of these celebrities will have. They could possibly switch off as guest judges every week, perform altogether or even just walk onstage to simply wave to the crowd.


Idol's original judges were Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson. After years of the trio dominating the show, a rotation began on the panel. The reality singing competition then featured Ellen DeGeneres, Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj, Steven Tyler, and Kara DioGuardi as judges.

The most recent lineup is Jennifer Lopez, Keith Urban and Harry Connick Jr., who will star as Season 15's official judges. They've worked together on the show for three years now.

Connick insisted there's going to be no competition amongst all the returning judges. In fact, he'd be willing to give up his own seat to Cowell.

"He can sit there. Oh hell yeah," Connick told E! News. "I'll go up and sing for him and let him judge me."

The soulful crooner added, "It will be fun. I like it. I mean, we all know Simon, Paula and Randy as being the three original judges. So we truly don't know if they're coming back or not, but if they did come back, it would be a blast."


Lopez agreed with Connick that there definitely wouldn't be any disputes over marked territory.

"No not at all," Lopez said with a big smile. "I've loved watching all of them for years. I'm so excited about it."

Urban, on the other hand, joked he'd be "totally territorial."

"We'll have a perimeter where it's okay to have them," Urban said with a laugh. "No, I hope everybody comes back."

"I'd like to see Ellen and Simon sitting very close to each other, right next to each other," Urban added of the infamous Idol frenemies. "That's what I would like -- showing people that chemistry. I think it's important for people to see that."


American Idol returns to Fox for its final season on Wednesday, January 6 at 8PM ET/PT.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski