Less than a year after it signed off the airwaves for the final time, "American Idol" may be making a comeback on a different network.

Variety has the scoop that the show's production company, Fremantle Media, is currently in negotiations with NBC to revive the OG singing competition series. According to Variety's sources, Fremantle has been shopping the show around to different networks, and NBC emerged as the leading candidate to take on a new version of "Idol," though the trade stresses that talks are in the early stages, and NBC still needs to figure out how it will integrate the reality series into its current scheduling rotation before any deal can move forward.

"American Idol" ended its 15-season run on Fox in May 2016, averaging 9.1 million viewers. That's a far cry from its years as the number one show on television -- at one point, "Idol" was regularly pulling in a whopping 36 million pairs of eyeballs -- though those figures aren't exactly anything to scoff at in today's increasingly competitive television landscape.

Fox decided to pull the plug anyway, though longtime host Ryan Seacrest had hinted before the show ended that "Idol" could return someday. And he famously amended his signature sign-off during the final "Idol" broadcast, saying, "Seacrest out ... for now."

It seems like the host's prediction is now coming true, though how "Idol" will fit into NBC's schedule remains to be seen. The Peacock already airs "Idol"'s biggest competitor, "The Voice," so it would be odd to have those shows overlap. (Variety reports that NBC is considering moving "The Voice" from a twice yearly rotation to once yearly.) But NBC also airs several other reality competition series, including "America's Got Talent" (produced by original "Idol" judge World of Dance" (featuring former "Idol" judge Jennifer Lopez). The schedule could get crowded with all these similar offerings.

Stay tuned to see how things pan out.

[via: Variety]