‘American Idol’ Showrunner Megan Michaels Wolflick Previews What’s to Come on Season 24

Billboard made its third annual visit to Hawaii at the end of January to cover production of three episodes of American Idol for the current season, the series’ 24th year on television. Thirty hopefuls arrived in Hawaii but 10 were eliminated almost immediately in a new “Ohana round.” After interviewing host Ryan Seacrest and judges Lionel Richie, Luke Bryan and Carrie Underwood in a group session on the first day of production (as well as celebrity mentors Brad Paisley and Keke Palmer) it was time for a sit-down breakfast with executive producer and showrunner Megan Michaels Wolflick.

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Wolflick has been on the Idol production staff for over 20 years and even worked on the one-season spinoff American Juniors in 2003. Rising through the ranks over many seasons, she has been an executive producer since 2018. Over the course of two hours, she offered a preview of the coming season. Topics included not just the changes to the current season, but the process of deciding which changes should be made and how to implement them.

Wolflick also talked about the new label affiliation with Atlantic Records following previous deals with RCA, Hollywood Records, Big Machine and BMG. Finally, she discussed who is handling music supervision after the tragic murder of longtime music supervisor Robin Kaye and her husband, Thomas Deluca.

We’ve talked about seasonal changes to Idol before, but I’ve never asked about the process. How do you decide what elements to alter? Does it originate with you? How much does your staff contribute?

There is a lot of brainstorming. We are trying to keep it fresh. And we ask ourselves, “What can we do?” I have an amazing team as a sounding board and I ask, “Do you think this is a crazy idea? You can say no, of course.” Also, every couple of years Fremantle holds a conference where we bring in Idol producers from around the globe. It really is a useful conference. We met recently in London and there were producers from Australia, Sweden and Germany. We had India this year. It’s usually a one-day conference but this year it lasted two days. We exchange ideas. The idea for the judges’ song contest came from South Africa. This year, while I was there, I was talking with the showrunner from Australia, Joel McCormack. He’s doing some cool things like a segment called the gold room, and I partially morphed that into something we’re doing in Hollywood Week. And during the conference while I was having lunch, I got the idea for a new addition, the Ohana Round. So the conference is very special.

Ohana refers to one’s extended family, including relatives, friends and social groups. How will this new round work?

We are doing an extra episode here at Aulani and it comes after Hollywood Week and before America’s vote. Hollywood Week is its own vortex through time and space so we wanted to see what how we could inform the judges about who is resonating with different groups. It’s a social experiment. In my mind, the Ohana round is the ultimate focus group. You have three groups of people. You have the Idols. You have the families and then we’ve curated a select group of influencers and music and industry experts to come in from their point of view. I wanted to see who would be the favorite in each of these groups. It’s always interesting – the singer’s singer, it’s a very sensitive thing, like a painter analyzing a painting. The families are the voice of the people.

Each group will vote and will have a number one choice that might be the same or might be different. And the number one picks of each group receive this year’s platinum tickets. Can the families vote for their own?

The Idols can’t vote for themselves as a finalist. You can’t vote for your own family member. That was important.

So it’s like the Eurovision Song Contest, where you can’t vote for your own country.

You can’t vote for your own person. We had to do that and we had to limit two family members per person and only one vote per family. Being called Ohana night, it was important to do a song that meant something to their family growing up and dedicate it to someone in their family. I loved having a camera on our industry experts. It was like on TikTok, they have reaction videos and it was like watching a real-life reaction video. We really wanted them to express themselves and react.

Idol has moved from Sunday nights to Monday this season. Last year you premiered in March and this year in January. But you are doing one episode per week for the entire season, instead of some weeks with two episodes. Add it all up and are you doing the same total number of episodes for the season?

It’s around the same number of episodes. One a week and we started in January. That’s “old school” — premiering in January. Once a week is better in some ways. It’s a lot to ask, four hours a week. What we know now in 2026 is there are so many different ways how people watch the show. You watch it on ABC. You watch it on Hulu. You watch it on Disney+. Or on Instagram.

People can watch it on their phones.

Exactly. I was at my son’s elementary school last year and the woman who runs the office told me, “I love the show. I love so and so.” And I said, “Amazing. Who else did you like on the episode?” She said, “Oh, I just watch it on Instagram.” But there’s an investment. They are watching Idol. We have to bob and weave with the culture, but I do feel like Mondays is a good night for us. During the week is good. Starting off your week right.

And you are not going up against major Sunday events, like the Super Bowl.

Sundays are tricky. A couple of years, we started on Presidents Day Weekend, which is always hard because that’s a holiday weekend. I feel like we were starting at a bit of a deficit there.

You have a lot of production staff members who have been working on the show for a few years, but you also have the OGs – yourself, co-executive producer Katie Fennelly Watkins, senior supervising producers Patrick Lynn and Norm Betts and camera operator Dave Eastwood. Tell me about working with these longtime members of the production team.

I think there’s a really nice shorthand. There’s a passion. It’s family, really. It sounds so cliché but it’s comforting. It’s been a part of their lives for so long. For someone like Patrick, it takes up his time in the best way. There are so many facets of the competition. There are the auditions. There’s Hollywood Week. It’s evolving and it never gets boring.

Let’s talk about the judges. You’ve got Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie in their ninth season and Carrie in her second year. How would you assess them?

I think they’re a great team. They’re happy to be here and they really love the show. I feel like their parents in a way and it’s very genuine. It doesn’t feel contrived. Yes, of course we are making a television show, but it’s like they are sincere A&R people and they love the ride. Carrie takes this job very seriously. She feels a pressure to deliver and all three are excellent at picking and cultivating talent. They really care and that is refreshing. And when we do auditions, it’s like Christmas morning for Luke and Lionel. They’re thinking, “Who’s going to walk in the door?” They’re excited about it still. And even for me being on the show for 20 years, the thrill is still there.

At nine years, Lionel and Luke are closing in on Randy Jackson’s longevity record as a judge, with 12 years under his belt.

Lionel and Luke love it. Carrie is the first Idol finalist to be on any panel in the world.

Let’s talk about episode themes. Will there be a Disney night this season?

Yes, we love that. I think Disney night and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame night are staples on the show now. People love them and they’re super interesting and ever evolving and there’s a wealth of mentors and experts who can speak on both subjects. We’re going to do a themed version of the judges’ song contest this year with a bit of nostalgia with ’90s music, which will be great. We’re going to do the 20th anniversary with the class of 2006 for our university theme. We have a special surprise mentor for the finale.

Will you still have live shows with voting results the same night?

Yes, real-time voting and now this year we are introducing social voting. There’s going to be a pinned voting post on all platforms, where you will write your name in the comments section of your favorite Idol. It’s as easy as going on Instagram or wherever. You see the voting post and you type ‘Fred Bronson’ in the comments and that’s your vote. So it’s literally the easiest thing ever.

And how will that be compiled?

By our friends at Telescope. We’ve been working on this for five years. It has never been available until now, so it’s definitely been something that we wanted to push forward.

So the days of voting by telephone are over.

I know. [Laughing] “Data rates may apply.”

How do you feel when you see former Idols accomplishing something incredible?

It’s amazing and you feel so proud. The lion’s share of people who come across the show, whether they are a massive success or not, are now making music their career, whatever that success may be. They are making music as a career whereas when they came to us, they were working in a paint store. The music industry as we know is very fractured now. Everybody’s in a different silo of the algorithm, so the successes are different than they were even as recently as 2010.

Back in season 1, people would say the Idols didn’t pay their dues and radio was reluctant to grant airplay.

Now you can get a record deal just by singing in your room. Idol gives these kids a crash course in the music industry. I have heard stories about people being signed from the internet, from TikTok, and then they come and start working with A&R or start doing shows and they can’t do it because they have no experience. That’s one way we talk to these kids who say, “Why should I come on Idol?” Well, we’re going to give you access to the best hair, makeup, staging, performance audio and band. You’re going to get access to all of that in a very short period of time. It’s like a boot camp for the music industry. When you come out on the other end, you can actually play a show. We are giving them access to A-level styling, everything. But at the same time, I always tell everyone the hardest worker wins. If you’re not willing to put in the work, you’re not going to see the success. We can give you the launching pad, but you have to swim. So I do get very proud and excited when you see someone doing well off the show. We are blessed in that way, like [season 23 winner] Jamal [Roberts], Grammy nominated in less than a year.

Is there any change in people’s reluctance or willingness to be considered?

Yes. Back in the day, everybody was waiting in line and camping out for two days and then waiting in another line to sing for 25 seconds. Now we obviously have a casting team. We’re scouring the internet for people. People are coming with managers. They’re coming with teams. They’re coming with publishing deals, but we have to be relevant once again. It runs the gamut. There’s the guy from Mississippi who works at [a day job] and tried out and then there’s the person who might have a million followers coming in.

Something else new this year is an Idol podcast. Tell me what that will look like.

We’ve wanted to do a podcast for a while. Dancing with the Stars introduced a podcast as a companion piece for their programming and it did really well and it’s interesting. We had the after-show back in the day, Idol Extra, but this is going to be taped when each live show is over. We’re going to talk to the eliminated finalists. We never get that moment. There’s no kiss-off anymore, so this is a really nice way we can talk about that person and their journey.

When Idol started, the winner and sometimes the runner-up were signed to RCA. Other labels became involved in later seasons: Hollywood Records, Big Machine and BMG. This year you’ve made a big change, making a deal with Atlantic Records. How did that come about?

Atlantic came to 19 [Entertainment, Fremantle’s partner in production of American Idol] interested in the show. One of the executives over there, Jeff Levin, worked for Clive Davis back in the day when he was in high school, around 2006. He was already an Idol fan. He knew the magic of it. So that’s a full circle moment for him to come back. They are passionate and they are excited.

American Idol suffered an unimaginable loss when music supervisor Robin Kaye and her husband Tom Deluca were murdered in their home last year. People I talk to who knew Robin, including past Idols and production crew, are still grieving. Who is filling the role of music supervisor this season?

Ashley Viergever, who worked under Robin for the past seven years and was her co-music supervisor, has stepped into the role. We didn’t really bring in anyone new. It’s the [same] team. And they’re asking themselves, “What would Robin do?” Last night I was at the beach [at the Aulani resort on Oahu] and we were starting rehearsals and I don’t know how this even happened, but we were looking at all the cameras and there she was. Her picture was there and I texted the team and I said, “She’s here with us.” She is here with us in so many ways.