The ABC competition is moving production to the Atlanta area for season 25 after 24 years in Los Angeles. California built a tax credit for shows exactly like it, and Idol did not qualify.
American Idol is leaving Los Angeles.
Fremantle, which produces the ABC competition with Sony Pictures Television-backed 19 Entertainment, confirmed Tuesday that season 25 moves production to the Atlanta area.
The show has filmed in Los Angeles since it launched on Fox in 2002.
Where is American Idol filming now?
Somewhere near Atlanta, though not officially yet.
Fremantle is in final talks with a studio complex in the area and has not signed the deal, according to Deadline, which broke the story. The most recent season originated from Red Studios in Hollywood.
Season 25 is expected to premiere in early 2027.
Why is American Idol leaving Los Angeles?
Money.
Georgia offers unscripted productions a tax credit of up to 30 percent if they spend at least $500,000 in the state. That is a low bar for a show of this size and a large return on clearing it.
Atlanta has spent a decade becoming the biggest production hub in the country outside Los Angeles and New York. Marvel shoots there. So do plenty of unscripted series.
California wrote a rule for shows like Idol, and Idol did not qualify
Last year California expanded its film and television tax credit through AB 1138, and for the first time the program covered unscripted productions. The legislature clearly had shows like this in mind. It limited eligibility to large-scale competition shows with budgets of at least $1 million per episode.
American Idol is the biggest competition show in the history of American television. On paper, it looks like exactly what the rule was written for.
Deadline understands it did not qualify.
So California built a door specifically for competition shows, and the most famous competition show in the country could not get through it. Whatever the reason, that is a policy result nobody in Sacramento was going for.
What happens to Hollywood Week?
Season 24 moved Hollywood Week out of Hollywood to Nashville. Now the entire production leaves the city.
Which leaves Ryan Seacrest holding a segment named after a place the show does not film in, handing out golden tickets to contestants he traditionally tells are going to Hollywood.
Nobody has said whether the name survives. There is not an obviously better option. Atlanta Week does not have the same ring, and Hollywood Week has 24 seasons of brand equity behind it.
How bad is this for Los Angeles?
Worse than one show.
Unscripted production in Los Angeles has fallen 62.7 percent over five years, according to FilmLA. Reality television shoot days dropped 40 percent year over year in the second quarter of 2026 alone. The city has lost roughly 57,000 production jobs in four years.
The Masked Singer left earlier this year for New Jersey, which offers a 30 percent credit and up to 40 percent on certain studio projects.
Two of the highest-profile unscripted shows on network television left California within twelve months.
The losses run past the production itself. Hotels, transportation, wardrobe suppliers, caterers and restaurants that served a show employing hundreds of people each season lose that business too. The Los Angeles City Council set up a committee on film and the creative industry last month to deal with the exodus.
When do American Idol season 25 auditions happen?
They are already running.
Virtual auditions have begun, and producers are holding in-person stops this week across Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. The main in-person audition rounds typically film in October or early November.
ABC confirmed the show’s return in late July, marking its tenth season on the network since moving over from Fox in 2018.
Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie are expected back on the panel, though ABC has not confirmed the judges. Seacrest hosts.
Season 24 wrapped May 11, with Missouri singer Hannah Harper winning.
Twenty-four years of contestants were told they were going to Hollywood. The twenty-fifth group is going to Georgia.
Article compiled with the help of the Pirates & Princesses newsroom.
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Hat Tips:
Deadline (Sept. 15, 2026), the exclusive report, Fremantle’s confirmation, the studio complex talks and the AB 1138 eligibility detail
TheWrap, via FilmLA data (September 2026), the unscripted production declines and the quarterly shoot day figures
Los Angeles Times (Sept. 15, 2026), the Georgia tax credit terms, the Red Studios detail and the audition stops
TVInsider (Sept. 15, 2026), the audition timeline and the judges’ status
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