The late One Direction singer Liam Payne is set to appear on screen for a final time next month – in a Netflix reality TV show.
Titled Building the Band, the show brings together aspiring singers with the aim of forming a new supergroup: such as One Direction, who shot to fame after they were created during Britain’s Got Talent.
As the show’s synopsis states, “all they have to go on is musical compatibility, connection, chemistry and merit. What will happen when the bands finally meet, and looks, choreography and style come into play?”
The show itself is hosted by Al McLean – a member of the Backstreet Boys – with Nicole Scherzinger, who rose to fame in the Pussycat Dolls (and has since gone onto a successful solo career) is a mentor and judge to the contestants.
Payne is set to appear as a guest judge, along with Kelly Rowland – aka one third of Destiny’s Child.
In a press release given along with the show, Netflix said that the late singer’s family had “reviewed the series and [was] supportive of his inclusion.”
There’s also been a trailer for the show, which was released on June 11 (which Payne doesn’t appear in). In it, we see the contestants going into recording booths and listening to their fellow competitors sing – before making a decision about who they want to include in their groups. They’re then paired up without ever seeing each other face to face.
“Watching to see Liam for the last time,” one of the comments on the trailer read, while another wrote, “so we’re all here for the same thing.”
Payne himself shot to fame in perhaps the biggest boyband of all time, One Direction. Formed in 2010, it went onto conquer the world. Over the course of six years, they won nearly 200 music awards, sold millions of albums and earned billions by the time of their split in 2016.
After that, Payne, like many of the band’s other members, pursued a solo career, while also struggling with ongoing alcohol and drug addictions. He died in October 2024, two months after the show wrapped filming, after falling from a third floor balcony at the CasaSur Hotel in Buenos Aires. His death sparked an outpouring of grief around the world.
Building the Band starts on Netflix from July 9
