One Direction Probably Won’t Ever Reunite, Simon Cowell Says

Simon Cowell is back in his boyband era. Earlier this month, the record exec announced he’s on the hunt to create a new music group; specifically, a One Direction 2.0. (Farewell, X Factor: The Band.) Due to this renewed interest in 1D, Cowell’s been reflecting on the band’s golden days, their eventual split in 2016, and those possible reunion rumors. Unfortunately for Directioners, he doesn’t see the five singers working together again.

“I doubt it,” Cowell said of the group reuniting in a June 10 interview for The Diary of a CEO. He then added that he regrets not purchasing One Direction’s name. Cowell revealed the band — who was created by Nicole Scherzinger — owns their name, so being stripped of that ownership limits him from creating future material about them. “I should have owned the name. That’s the problem. I could’ve made an animation [of them].”

Cowell continued, telling the former members — Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, and Liam Payne — that he’ll “buy their name back from them.” “If one of the band members didn’t want to tour, it can stop the others from touring. But if it was me who owned the name, it wouldn’t be a problem,” he said.

While that sounds exciting, it doesn’t seem likely that the former members would sell One Direction back to Cowell. Not only are they flourishing in their solo careers, but they’ve walked away from reuniting several times. The last time 1D fueled those reunion rumors was in June 2021, when Liam revealed that he and Harry still keep in touch. However, that potential hit an odd plateau a year later, when Liam rubbed Directioners the wrong way for claiming to have “outsold” the other members’ solo debuts.

As for Cowell, he’s eager to recreate the band’s once stratospheric fame. In the interview, he claimed there’s a lack of boybands in pop music right now (a remark that stirred up some controversy from K-pop fans in particular).

“I’ve always been a huge fan of bands. I think it’s more fun being in a band than being a solo artist; particularly, if you like your bandmates. But if you look at the amount of solo artists versus bands in pop music, it’s unbelievable,” he said. “The only way I know how to put a band together is to audition them. I said: ‘If I don’t do it this year, I’m going to really regret it. So, let’s do it.’”