Will there be a 'normal' X Factor again in 2020?

It used to be the reason you’d stay in on a Saturday night – The X Factor's annual search for the next singing sensation once drew in a staggering audience of 17.7 million and provided endless water cooler moments up and down the country.

However, The X Factor’s gleaming star has most definitely waned in more recent years - with its new 'The X Factor: Celebrity' sister spin-off seeing only two million of us regularly tuning in.

With such a steep decline in ratings, it’s little wonder that Cowell and co will be trying something completely different this year for The X Factor, having tweaked the format twice in order to restore the show to its former glory.

But will the X Factor we all know and used to love ever return? Here’s all you need to know.

Will there be another series of the ‘normal’ X Factor?

For 2019? No.

Cowell has shelved The X Factor's original search-for-a-star format in favour for two shorter spin-offs; The X Factor: Celebrity, who crowned Megan McKenna as its first winner, and The X Factor: The Band - which sees Cowell and Nicole Scherzinger search for the next big band that could rival the likes of K-Pop superstars BTS.

But the civilian X Factor that we know has been shelved until 2020, according to Cowell, and will be back after the hiatus with a brand new look.

“Next year the main X Factor show will change again and we’ve got something very, very exciting, that I can’t get into yet, but it’s a four-year plan,” he said of the original show.

“ITV wanted the regular X Factor and, as I’ve told you before, we’ve been offered a new five-year deal on both formats, which we haven’t agreed to yet.

“All we’re trying to do is upgrade and glamorise the show.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XklSHkro7P4

However, the latest reports suggest that ITV have only offered Cowell one more year on The X Factor after disappointing ratings.

"Simon has been in talks with ITV for some time and bosses there are keen to cement a new deal," an insider told The Sun.

“There has been interest from streaming sites and other stations but terrestrial television has always been the most natural fit.

"The X Factor clearly is at a crossroads. A one-year deal with an option of further series seemed a sensible conclusion."

However, X Factor: All Stars may instead air in 2020, after the show was cancelled in favour for X Factor: The Band earlier this year.

RadioTimes.com has contacted ITV for comment.

The X Factor returns to ITV later this year.