“American Idol” Alum Tapped To Replace Katy Perry As Judge In Upcoming Season

American Idol has found their replacement for Katy Perry in Carrie Underwood, according to a new report from Deadline.

What’s Happening:

  • Deadline is reporting that Carrie Underwood is slated to replace Katy Perry as a judge on the long-running unscripted series, American Idol.
  • She will join fellow judges Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie on the panel during the show’s 25th season, now running on ABC after the original tenure on Fox.
  • Speaking of original tenure on Fox, Underwood herself rose to prominence after winning the fourth season of the show (then airing on the Fox network), making herself an ideal candidate to judge the young potential idols of the series, having done it herself.
  • ABC had been looking for a replacement for Perry for several months, with reports indicating that Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber were alluded to by fellow judge Luke Bryan, as well as Pink and Meghan Trainor.
  • Underwood herself has been in the eyes of several musical competition series, being seen as a potential candidate to replace Blake Shelton on The Voice as well.
  • Being nabbed by American Idol was a great move for the series, who had reportedly been trying to bring back some of their success stories as judges. Kelly Clarkson, who won the first season of the series back in 2002 was also thought to have been a target as a judge back in 2018, instead joining the panel of The Voice that same year.
  • This will be the first shakeup in the judging panel since American Idol arrived on ABC in its 16th season, with Perry, Bryan, and Richie having been judges since the network rebooted the series.
  • Earlier this year, American Idol was renewed for their 8th season at the alphabet network, with the news breaking ahead of this season’s finale. The unscripted series has been a stalwart for ABC, giving consistently strong ratings since the network picked it up back in 2018, after ending its run at Fox in 2016.

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Tony Betti
Originally from California where he studied a dying artform (hand-drawn animation), Tony has spent most of his adult life in the theme parks of Orlando. When he’s not writing for LP, he’s usually watching and studying something animated or arguing about “the good ole’ days” at the parks.