Hear me out.

(Image credit: NBC)

It’s likely that when The Voice announced that Adam Levine was returning in Spring 2025, there were plenty of Blake Shelton fans who were disappointed. Of course there’s the fact that of all the OG coaches, the Maroon 5 frontman was not the one they were hoping to see again, but also Levine’s return following the cowboy’s retirement from the show robs us of more of that fun early-season bromance. However, there’s a different way to look at it — the rocker’s comeback is actually a good thing, because it puts us one step closer to the only scenario Shelton said he’d return to.

Let me be clear now: Blake Shelton has said in a dozen different ways that he’s done with The Voice and that he is happy with his choice to leave. John Legend even told us to give it up; the cowboy has ridden off into the sunset. We have learned to make our peace with why his absence is for the best.  However, IF he were to return, he has said there’s only one scenario in which that would happen. In April 2024, he told ET:

If they were ever able to put together the original four coaches again, maybe [I’d return] for one season, a one-off. That would be fun for me… That would be something I would be interested in doing.

That means, Blake stans, that in order to see the “Come Back as a Country Boy” singer come back as a country coach, Adam Levine HAS to be a part of it, so Season 27 will be a huge step in that direction..

So where do CeeLo Green and Christina Aguilera — the other original coaches of The Voice — stand? The Gnarls Barkley singer hasn’t appeared in a Big Red Chair since Season 5; however, he’s still very much a part of The Voice family. In addition to serving as Adam Levine’s Battle Advisor in Season 15, CeeLo performed a medley of ‘80s hits with past Team Blake members in the Season 23 finale as a tribute for Blake Shelton’s final episode.

Christina Aguilera would definitely be the harder get. The “Genie in a Bottle” singer coached on six of The Voice’s first 10 seasons, but she hasn’t made any return appearances since leaving ahead of Season 11. In addition to being the only one of the original four to not return for Blake Shelton’s sendoff, she also didn’t participate in the celebration of the singing competition’s 25th season, which saw pre-recorded messages from many former mentors.

In 2018 she had some choice words for The Voice as she shut down a possible comeback, saying:

It became something that I didn’t feel was what I had signed up for in Season 1. You realize it’s not about music. It’s about making good TV moments and massaging a story.

She also said she hadn’t signed up for a show that would tell her that there were things she couldn’t wear and things she couldn’t say. Is this a wound that time could eventually heal?

It might be a long shot, but Blake Shelton has put the idea out into the universe, and Adam Levine — the man responsible for some of The Voice’s wildest moments — is doing his part.

We’ll have to wait to see what the future holds, but for now keep an eye on the 2024 TV schedule for a Season 26 premiere date, which will see Reba McEntire and Gwen Stefani welcome Snoop Dogg and Michael Bublé to the Big Red Chairs.