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America’s Got Talent is ringing in its impressive 20th season this year, celebrating nearly two decades of incredible talent gracing its stage. One of the biggest fixtures of the reality TV show is that of Simon Cowell, who’s served as judge on the panel since 2016, marking nearly ten years of experience.
In honor of the 20th season, Simon shared some thoughts reflecting on the show’s history—as well as its future. He gave a surprising answer about who he’d eventually like to see take over his judging seat as well.
Simon Wants His Son To Take His Spot On AGT
In advance of the 20th season, Simon had a candid conversation with People about the show and its legacy. The longtime reality TV judge explained that, to him, AGT was “the best job in the world” and that he remained grateful for the opportunity. “I’ve seen this sort of evolution over the years of how things have just gotten bigger and better, more creative. And that is a really, really good feeling when you see that,” he said.
In thinking ahead about what the show might look like in another ten or even 20 years, Simon shared that he could see someone taking over his place—someone he knows very well, in fact. Indeed, he told People that he could one day see his own son, Eric, taking his place on the judging panel.
Simon elaborated that he could see Eric being ready to take on the show by the time it had its 40th anniversary:
I’m now looking at the next 20 years of this show — where does it go next? And because it’s so open to anyone, I really do have this feeling that whether it’s me or whether it’s Eric, my son, you’re going to be having a conversation with us in 20 years time saying, ‘Well, how was the 40th anniversary?’ Because I can’t imagine this show not being on now.
Simon Thinks Eric Might Have Another Job On The Show
This isn’t to say that Simon thinks his son will follow exactly in his footsteps. He went on to note that, unlike himself, Eric was still rather shy, and so being in front of the cameras wouldn’t necessarily be the best fit for him. When it came to getting involved with the show in general, Simon said he’d “hinted at it” but hadn’t pushed the idea too much.
That said, it appears that Simon is already thinking about where his son might best fit as an employee of the show. He went on to explain that he could see Eric’s skills going to good use elsewhere:
Fortunately like me, he loves these kinds of shows, which is a good start. I think he’d actually be a really good producer… I don’t think he’d be comfortable on camera, but that could change. I don’t know.
“But if he wanted to, I would definitely encourage him to produce. I would love that. I mean, that would be my dream,” Simon added.
In the meantime, however, it seems that Simon is plenty content to keep the position for himself. He shared that he felt that the talent each season only continued to increase, making it hard for him to walk away from the opportunity. “If I didn’t feel that was the case, then I would just say, ‘Well then, that’s it. We’ve had a great time and thank you very much,”’ he offered. “But you always go after you finish a season, ‘Now I can’t wait to see who’s going to come on [next] season.’ That’s my motivation still, and I’m still really, really enjoying it,” he says.
It seems that fans of Simon will still be able to see him on their TV screens for at least a few more seasons, if not more. “So for the time being, I’ve kind of mapped out my next few years doing this, and I think I’d miss it. I really would, I’m not going to lie,” he confessed. “We do have long days at times and you’re tired, but then when I watch the show back and it’s brilliant, it’s like, ‘Yeah, I would feel really awful if I wasn’t doing this.’
The latest season of the show has gotten off to a bang, with multiple instances of the golden buzzer being used already. It seems that Simon wasn’t joking about the level of talent being the highest it’s ever been. New episodes of America’s Got Talent air every Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.
