The twenty-first season of the American talent show competition series America's Got Talent premiered on NBC on June 2, 2026, and concluded on September 23, 2026. Howie Mandel, Mel B, Sofía Vergara, and Simon Cowell all returned to the panel for their seventeenth, eighth, seventh, and eleventh respective seasons. Terry Crews returned as host for his eighth consecutive season. With Crews' return, he now ties with Nick Cannon's record as the longest-serving host in the show's history.
The season was won by singer and guitarist Nene Royal, with magician Geno Ploeger finishing second, and magician group Hundred Fingers placing third.
Production On March 12, 2026, it was confirmed that the entire cast from the previous season would return for the twenty-first season. The following day, filming of the auditions began at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium.
On August 24, 2026, it was reported that judge Simon Cowell would be absent from the live show judging panel for a few weeks, in order to undergo back surgery. Entertainment Tonight reported that guest judges will fill in for Cowell during his absence. While no guest judge was present for the second Quarter-final round, Kenan Thompson served as a guest judge for the third Quarter-final round on September 1; Thompson previously filled-in for Cowell as a guest judge during season fifteen in 2020. On September 2, it was reported that former AGT judge Heidi Klum would serve as a guest judge for the final Quarter-final round on September 8. On September 22, it was announced that Britain's Got Talent judge KSI would serve as a guest judge for the season's finals on September 22 and 23.
Due to NBC Sunday Night Football airing on September 9, the season's final Quarter-final round was aired altogether on September 8. Through this scheduling, the entire week's regular schedule was instead done in three hours on a single night, with the acts' performances during the first two hours, followed by immediate results in the third hour.
Season overview Auditions For the third consecutive season, and the only three times in the show's history, each judge was able to give two Golden Buzzers instead of the usual one; host Terry Crews also received two Golden Buzzers to give out during the auditions.
Judges' Callbacks This season, a new round dubbed the Judges' Callbacks occurred. The purpose of the round is to give 23 select acts a second chance to earn a spot in the live shows after the judges' deliberations.
During this round, each judge worked closely with their guest judges to offer feedback and guidance to acts they selected before deciding who would advance to the live shows. Cowell hosted his selected acts in Malibu, where he was joined by singer Normani and songwriter and producer Poo Bear. Vergara hosted her selected acts in Beverly Hills, joined by singer Sebastián Yatra and content creator Lele Pons. Mel B hosted her selected acts in Leeds, alongside her Spice Girls groupmate Emma Bunton. Mandel hosted his select acts at the Laugh Factory in Hollywood, where he was joined by comedian Nikki Glaser.
+Summary of Judges' Callbacks Judge Location Guest judges Acts Cowell Malibu Normani and Poo Bear AkiraElektrodadsElsieNyjah Music & Zyah RhythmSandoTravis Garland Vergara Beverly Hills Lele Pons and Sebastián Yatra Brook LynnDarrell MotenKameron MarshallOlivia BefusVahtang Mel B Leeds Emma Bunton BetyButter & GritJames & MarinaJoel MLachlan PattersonMadelyn Tallent & Malachi Martin Mandel Laugh Factory Hollywood Nikki Glaser Bird and ByronCris SosaDaniel AlvarezNaimana & DanieleNene RoyalRynia Kando
Live shows | | | | | | Golden Buzzer | Live Golden Buzzer
ParticipantAge(s)GenreActFromQuarter-FinalResult Acro Canine Crew 7-21 Animal / Dance Dancing Dog Group Edmonton, Alberta, Canada 3 Akira Variety Novelty Act Japan 4 Ashford Sanders Singing Singer Atlanta, Georgia 1 Bety Singing Singer Valencia, Spain 2 Bird and Byron Singing Rock Duo Columbus, Ohio 4 Brad & Tracy Danger Sideshow Duo Pullman, Washington 2 Brook Lynn Singing Singer Wilp, The Netherlands 1 Butter & Grit Singing Vocal Duo Nashville, Tennessee 2 Cameron Logsdon Comedy Impressionist Omaha, Nebraska 4 Cesar Dias Singing / Comedy Comedy Singer Portugal 4 Come Here Dance Dance Group South Korea 2 Cris Sosa Comedy Comedian Humble, Texas 1 Daniel Alvarez Comedy Comedian Los Angeles, California 3 Elsie Singing Singer Columbia, Mississippi 3 Geno Ploeger Magic Magician Phoenix, Arizonahttps://www.genoploegermagic.com/about 2 Guy Kelton Jones I Singing / Variety Singer & Poet New York City 3 Herwan Legaillard Acrobatics / Danger Aerialist & Sword Swallower France 3 Holland & Sienna Acrobatics Aerial Duo Las Vegas, Nevada 3 Hundred Fingers Magic Magician Group South Korea 1 Isaac Atkins 23 Singing Singer Oahu, Hawaii 3 James & Marina Magic Mentalist Duo England and Ukraine 1 Jesse Joe Singing Singer Midland, Texas 4 Jesse White Tumbling Team Acrobatics Tumbling Group Chicago, Illinois 1 Kameron Marshall Magic Magician Toronto, Ontario, Canada 3 Lai Noelle 14 Singing Singer Dallas, Texashttps://www.billboard.com/culture/tv-film/lai-noelle-agt-golden-buzzer-incredible-elton-john-cover-1236330983/ 3 Lara D 23https://talentrecap.com/meet-americas-got-talent-singer-lara-d/ Singing Singer Sydney, Australia 4 LaRussell Singing Rapper Vallejo, California 2 Luke Taleno Singing Rapper Hialeah, Florida 1 Mackenzie Sol 25 Singing Singer Newcastle, United Kingdom 2 Maria 18 Acrobatics Contortionist Bavaria, Germanyhttps://www.nbc.com/nbc-insider/agt-contortionist-maria-audition 3 Nene Royal 16 Singing Singer & Guitarist Phuket, Thailand 2 Nyjah Music & Zyah Rhythm Singing Vocal Duo O'ahu, Hawaii 2 Olivia Befus 17 Animal Dog Act Midland, Michigan 1 Patrox Dance Dancer Germany 2 Pynk Beard Singing Singer Birmingham, Alabama 3 Royal Lasers Dance Light–Up Dance Trio Las Vegas, Nevada 1 Rubén Roldán Acrobatics Parkour Athlete Málaga, Spain 4 Sando Dance Dancer Los Angeles, California 1 The CommUNITY ATL Singing Choir Atlanta, Georgia 1 Travis Garland Singing Singer Lubbock, Texas 4 Tyrone & Margo Danger Knife Throwing Duo — 4 Unitree Dance / Variety Robot Dance Group Hangzhou, China 4 Veronika Goroshkova Acrobatics Aerialist Las Vegas, Nevada 2 Young & Strange Magic Magic Duo Oxfordshire, England 4
Quarter-finals summary Buzzed Out | Live Golden Buzzer | | |
Quarter-final 1 (August 18) Guest Performer, Results Show: NCT 127
ParticipantOrderBuzzesResult (August 19) The CommUNITY ATL 1 James & Marina 2 Jesse White Tumbling Team 3 Ashford Sanders 4 Sando 5 Hundred Fingers 6 Brook Lynn 7 Royal Lasers 8 Olivia Befus 9 Cris Sosa 10 Luke Taleno 11
Quarter-final 2 (August 25) Guest Performers, Results Show: Steve Ray Ladson & The War and Treaty
ParticipantOrderBuzzesResult (August 26) LaRussell 1 Veronika Goroshkova 2 Bety 3 Come Here 4 Nyjah Music & Zyah Rhythm 5 Geno Ploeger 6 Patrox 7 Nene Royal 8 Mackenzie Sol 9 Brad & Tracy 10 Butter & Grit 11
Quarter-final 3 (September 1) Guest Performers, Results Show: Absolutely, Amma, and Detroit Youth Choir
ParticipantOrderBuzzesResult (September 2) Holland & Sienna 1 Isaac Atkins 2 Maria 3 Elsie 4 Acro Canine Crew 5 Herwan Legaillard 6 Guy Kelton Jones I 7 Kameron Marshall 8 Lai Noelle 9 Daniel Alvarez 10 Pynk Beard 11 Vergara pressed the golden buzzer after Thompson's instruction to "get her get back".
Quarter-final 4 (September 8) Guest Performers, Results Show: Oz Pearlman & Warren Zeiders
ParticipantOrderBuzzesResult (September 8) Young & Strange 1 Lara D 2 Rubén Roldán 3 Cameron Logsdon 4 Bird and Byron 5 Tyrone & Margo 6 Cesar Dias 7 Unitree 8 Travis Garland 9 Akira 10 Jesse Joe 11
Semi-finals summary
Semi-final (September 15) Guest Performer, Results Show: Chris Turner
ParticipantOrderBuzzesResult (September 16) Acro Canine Crew 1 Kameron Marshall 2 Cesar Dias 3 Veronika Goroshkova 4 Luke Taleno 5 Royal Lasers 6 Olivia Befus 7 Young & Strange 8 Come Here 9 Daniel Alvarez 10 Geno Ploeger 11 Travis Garland 12
Finals summary Guest Performers, Results Show: Taylen Biggs and Trisha Paytas
FinalistPerformed with(2nd Performance) ResultAcro Canine Crew Lele Pons Come Here Rei Ami Geno Ploeger Mat Franco, Eric Nam & Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone Hundred Fingers Chloe Flower Lai Noelle Jessica Sanchez Nene Royal Linkin Park Olivia Befus Lele Pons Royal Lasers Steve Aoki Unitree Steve Aoki Veronika Goroshkova Josh Groban Acro Canine Crew and Olivia Befus conducted a joint routine for their second performance, and thus shared the same guest performer. Royal Lasers and Unitree conducted a joint routine for their second performance, and thus shared the same guest performer.
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