Simon Cowell nearly walked away from Netflix project after Liam Payne's death

Simon Cowell revealed that he considered cancelling Netflix's The Next Act after learning of Liam Payne's sudden death in October 2024.

The music mogul best known for shaping careers on American Idol and the X Factor shared he was in the middle of filming when news about his passing broke.

“I was in pieces, I’m not going to lie,” Cowell admitted, explaining that production halted for several weeks while he weighed whether to continue.

“I’d spoken to his parents that morning when I heard the news and I was just thinking, ‘God, I couldn’t cope with that. I genuinely couldn’t,'” Cowell shared.

The Netflix show follows Cowell's search for the next big boy band which echoes of the moment in 2010 when he assembled Payne, Harry Styes, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik into One Direction.

By the time of Payne's death, Cowell had already auditioned 1,200 boys and narrowed the field to 16 contestants.

Cowell said he met with the boys and their parents, offering them the chance to step away if they wanted.

But no one did.

"…they all decided they wanted to have that chance," he recalled, adding that he promised a strong support system for the young performers.