September 2, 2026 8:21pm

As Simon Cowell continues to recover from back surgery, another America’s Got Talent alum is returning to the judges table.

On Wednesday’s episode of the NBC reality competition series, it was announced that Heidi Klum will fill in for Cowell next week during a special three-hour broadcast of the Season 21 quarterfinals.

Klum served as a judge on America’s Got Talent from 2013 to 2018, before returning from 2020 to 2024. She exited the AGT judges table last year, shortly after she was invited back to host Project Runway for Freeform and Disney+.

The German supermodel’s return comes after fellow former judge Kenan Thompson kept Cowell’s seat warm this week, after formerly filling in for the creator and executive producer during Season 15 in 2020.

Cowell was not on the show this week as he is taking time off to undergo the procedure, described as routine and linked to the serious e-bike accident he suffered in August 2020, which led to complex spinal injury and long rehab. The recovery took him out of commission from the 2020 season of AGT, with guest judges filling in, including Thompson.

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