American Idol's 15th season will officially be its last. After a massive run with eight years as the No. 1 show on television and launching the careers of Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Phillip Phillips, Jennifer Hudson and countless other singers, today (May 11), FOX announced that the stage will finally dim its lights next year.
Despite decent ratings in its 14th season (with a peak of 11.6 million viewers), the costly production of Idol and diminishing relevance in the music industry caused FOX to cancel the show after giving it one last hoorah, Entertainment Weekly reports.
The final season will feature familiar faces to viewers of Idol - with current judges Harry Connick Jr., Keith Urban and Jennifer Lopez all slated to return alongside the show's host since day one, Ryan Seacrest.
EW also reports that season 15 will be a special one for Idol. FOX CEO Gary Newman revealed that the show will be a "season-long celebration" of the legacy of the talent competition. Former judges and contestants are all slated to come back to the show.
"We're already talking about surprises we can have for the fans to make it feel special and make send it off that makes it as significant as the run it's had on our network," he said.
American Idol was once an unbeatable juggernaut in FOX's lineup, dubbed the "Ratings Death Star." In 2006, the show pulled in an astonishing 36 million people for its season five finale. Since then, the show has slipped in relevancy, pulling in a mere 10.5 million viewers for its season 13 finale, when Caleb Johnson was dubbed the latest Idol.
As for this year, American Idol will crown its 14th winner on Wednesday, May 13.
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