Luke Bryan to Serve as Judge on ‘American Idol’

It's official - Luke Bryan will join Katy Perry on judes' panel for the reboot of American Idol, debuting on ABC early next year. 

Written by Annie Reuter
Luke Bryan to Serve as Judge on ‘American Idol’
Luke Bryan; Photo by J. Merritt/FilmMagic

It’s official! Luke Bryan is headed to TV next year. Variety reports that the “Light It Up” singer has signed on as a judge for the upcoming American Idol reboot.

The country singer will join Katy Perry at the judges’ table on the reality singing competition. Perry confirmed her role earlier this year shortly after the deal with ABC was made. Previously, American Idol was hosted on Fox for 15 seasons.

Variety reports Perry will earn a salary of $25 million. No official announcement on Bryan’s earnings has been revealed. Meanwhile, Ryan Seacrest will return as host of American Idol and confirmed the news on an episode of Live with Kelly and Ryan in July.

It turns out Bryan wasn’t the only country singer in talks to join the cast in 2018. Keith Urban, previously a judge on the show, was also rumored to be a possibility as were Lionel Richie and Charlie Puth. In an interview with Pennsylvania newspaper The Morning Call Urban confirmed that he was in talks with AI.

“There’s been talk about it, yeah, but I’m not quite sure,” he told the publication in August. “There’s an enormous amount of moving parts on everybody’s side right now.”

According to Urban, Bryan can expect to become even more popular with a gig on American Idol as Urban told the publication that his time on the show meant a bigger turnout at his concerts.

“It meant that more people came to our shows and got to check out what we do live, which is fantastic. This is all in addition to getting to be in peoples’ living rooms every week,” Urban added.

So, if Bryan needs any pointers Urban is no doubt the guy to ask. American Idol will return to television in March 2018.