Luke Bryan Was ‘Against’ Joining ‘American Idol’ Cast: What Changed His Mind?

Country superstar Luke Bryan has been a beloved member of the “American Idol” judging panel since 2018, but the “Love You, Miss You, Mean It” singer wasn’t keen on the idea when he was first asked to join ABC’s reboot of the show. Thankfully, two superstar friends convinced him to give it a try.

On March 11, 2025, Bryan appeared on the Bobbycast podcast with radio host and former “Idol” mentor Bobby Bones. At the end of their conversation about Bryan’s music career, they discussed how he wound up as a judge on “Idol.” Bryan still vividly remembers being at his beach house in Florida when the call came in and how uninterested he initially was in the job.

Luke Bryan Says ‘Idol’ Execs Flew to Florida to Pitch Him on Show

After 15 seasons of turning amateur singers into household names, FOX canceled “Idol” and aired a series finale in April 2016 with then-judges Jennifer Lopez, Keith Urban, and Steven Tyler. But one year later, ABC announced it was revamping and relaunching the show.

Bryan knew about the reboot given all the media buzz, including Katy Perry being named as the first new judge, he told Bones. But he had little interest in being part of the show when producers reached out to gauge his interest.

“I’m at my beach house, and my manager Carrie, she calls me and says, ‘We’ve been contacted about the reboot of ‘American Idol,'” Bryan recalled. “And we had already seen some headlines that Katy Perry — you know, they signed Katy (first).”

“So they reached out to my manager and I must say, I was 70% against it to start,” Bryan continued. “Because, I mean, at that moment, I was at the height of (playing) stadiums and I didn’t want to get (distracted) … Life was so good just being (a country star).”

Bryan told his manager he didn’t want to fly to L.A. or New York, and that he wasn’t “going to go up there and do this meeting that I don’t want to do.” But execs from ABC and the show’s production company, Fremantle, said they’d fly to see him in Florida in a matter of days.

“I’ll leave the names out, but they know I love ’em,” Bryan laughed, adding that he and his manager met with the executives not far from his beach house.

“They started pitching it and I told ’em, ‘I’m really probably not interested,'” Bryan said of his meeting, adding that he found it funny that they didn’t realize he was selling out stadiums and “making enough money touring that I don’t need, like, to give up money here to go give up time doing (‘Idol’). I just need to go throw shows up and go rock it.”

Luke Bryan Called Upon 2 Superstar Friends for Advice

ABC

Even though Bryan didn’t need the money, he was intrigued enough after that 2017 meeting that he made a couple of calls to some superstar buddies — Blake Shelton, who was serving as a coach on “The Voice” and Urban, who was an “Idol” judge from seasons 12 through 15.

Bryan told Bones, “I called Blake and we had a great talk, and he was like, ‘Luke, TV opens up another domain and dynamic.’ And I called Keith, and he said, man, he had loved it. Those are two guys that I love and trust.”

After those conversations, Bryan said he and his manager decided to toss out a “crazy number,” laughing to Bones that to his surprise, “dammit, they paid it.”

Bryan has been with the show ever since, along with fellow judge Lionel Richie. After Perry left the show in May 2024 to go on a world tour, they welcomed Carrie Underwood to the judging panel during the season 23 premiere on March 9.