Overview
- Netflix released the six-part Simon Cowell: The Next Act on December 10, following his effort to form a new boyband through UK and Ireland auditions and a Miami bootcamp.
- The series shows production pausing in October 2024 after Liam Payne’s death, with Cowell visibly grieving and recounting calls to Payne’s parents.
- Personal footage includes a tense exchange with partner Lauren Silverman, offering an unusually intimate look at Cowell’s home life and work strain.
- Cowell says he almost abandoned the project and frames its success as pivotal to his reputation, declaring that failure would feel like the end of his career.
- Early reviews describe the program as an X Factor-style retread and question the propriety of continuing to recruit teenage performers so soon after Payne’s passing.