Blake Shelton’s time on The Voice is quickly coming to an end, with just three episodes remaining in the current season. It’s a moment that fans of the singing competition have been both anticipating and dreading, with a new champion set to be crowned next week as the cowboy makes his final exit. With Shelton serving as a coach for 12 years and 23 seasons, you can bet The Voice is pulling out all the stops for his big send-off, so viewers should expect to see some familiar faces. And there’s no way we could say goodbye to the country singer without including longtime rival Adam Levine.
The Voice Season 23 so far has been a celebration of Blake Shelton — featuring artists with personal connections to the singer; bringing back his Season 1 mentor Reba McEntire; and documenting every milestone, including his historic last chair turn. That’s all going to continue for the season finale, when Adam Levine and his band Maroon 5 appear on May 23 — the results show — to perform their new single “Middle Ground,” per NBC.
Adam Levine won’t be the only OG coach of The Voice to appear on Blake Shelton’s final show, either, as CeeLo Green is also set to perform. Christina Aguilera is not listed amongst the returning coaches, which is a shame, because it’d sure be cool to get the whole crew back together!
In addition to the Season 1 panel members, The Voice Season 23 finale will see return appearances from Miley Cyrus, Usher, Pharrell, John Legend, Nick Jonas, Camila Cabello and Jennifer Hudson. (What, no Gwen Stefani?) Country legend Dolly Parton will also be present, as well as musical guests Diplo, Lily Rose and Lewis Capaldi.
It certainly sounds like a fitting way to honor the longtime coach, especially bringing back Adam Levine again, after they were previously reunited on the Season 20 finale. He and the country superstar developed a bromance that turned into a somewhat brutal rivalry over the competition’s first 16 seasons. Even after the Maroon 5 frontman left the show, they continued to trade barbs, with the “Memories” singer giving an amusing response to Blake Shelton’s exit news and the cowboy referencing “Adam Levine-level failure” earlier this season.
With so many former coaches returning to bid Blake Shelton farewell, it will be interesting to see if the sendoff overshadows the actual competition. Also included in the finale will, of course, be the “No Body” singer’s current fellow coaches — Kelly Clarkson, Chance the Rapper and Niall Horan. Each musician trimmed their teams down to two artists in a brutal Playoff round that saw a big format change from previous seasons.
All eight remaining contestants will perform in the live Semifinals on May 15, with three singers being eliminated in real time Monday and five moving on to the performance finale on May 22. After another round of voting, the winner will be named on a special Tuesday episode airing May 23 — when (presumably) most of these special guest appearances will take place.
Blake Shelton may be saying goodbye to The Voice, but his other show with Carson Daly, Barmageddon, has been renewed by USA Network for Season 2, so keep your eye on the 2023 TV schedule for that other upcoming premiere dates.
