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WhatToWatch

Entertainment

Michael Balderston

The Voice season 26: next episode, coaches and everything we know about the singing competition

The Voice Reba McEntire Gwen Stefani NBC Peacock (Organization) Michael Bublé Snoop Dogg

Fresh off her first-ever win as a coach on The Voice season 25, Reba McEntire is the sole returning coach/judge on the NBC singing competition's next edition, The Voice season 26. That means she will have three new coaches challenging her title as they attempt to once again identify the next great singing talent.

Who are these new coaches? When can fans expect the new season of The Voice to premiere? And are there any other changes to the show's format?

Read on to get everything we know about The Voice season 26 directly below.

The Voice season 26 next episode

The Voice season 26 finale, revealing this season's winner, airs Tuesday, December 10, on NBC. It's a full night of The Voice on NBC, as 8 pm ET/PT will see a recap episode of the top five's performances from December 9, then starting at 9 pm ET/PT the finale begins, where the season's winner will be crowned.

In order to watch The Voice season 26 whenever it returns, you need to have access to NBC or Peacock. The broadcast channel is available through both traditional pay-TV providers and live TV streaming services like Fubo, Hulu with Live TV, Sling TV and YouTube TV. To access it live with Peacock you need to be subscribed to the Peacock Premium Plus plan; you can watch the show on-demand the next day with any Peacock subscription.

The US version of The Voice does not air in the UK, as the country has its own version of the show.

The Voice season 26 coaches

While The Voice focuses on the search for the next great singing talent, the initial stars of each season are the coaches who fill the chairs and make the decisions on which performers they want to add to their team.

Returning as a coach after her season 25 victory is Reba McEntire, with the country legend entering her third season as a coach on the reality singing competition. Viewers will be getting a double dose of Reba on NBC in fall 2024, as she also stars in the new sitcom on the network, Happy's Place.

Joining McEntire as a coach for season 26 is another veteran of The Voice, Gwen Stefani. This marks Stefani's eighth season as a coach on The Voice and her first since The Voice season 24. Stefani has one win as a coach over her time on the show.

Two first-time coaches are set to join The Voice in season 26: Snoop Dogg and Michael Bublé. Snoop Dogg is a music industry mogul, 20-time Grammy nominee and widely recognized as one of the icons of rap with more than 40 million albums sold worldwide. Bublé is a five-time Grammy winner who has sold more than 75 million albums worldwide. While both have experience on the show as mentors, this is the first time they will be sitting in the chairs and competing for singers they want on their teams.

The Voice season 26 format

At this time, there is no indication that The Voice season 26 is going to change the format of the long-running competition in any significant way, but we’ll keep an ear out for any planned tweaks.

In the meantime, here is a reminder of how the reality competition works:

The Voice competition features five stages: blind auditions, battle rounds, knockouts, playoffs and live performances.

The blind auditions are when the coaches first build out their teams. When a performer comes out, the coaches are turned around in their chairs, not able to see the performer. If the coaches like the voice, they can hit their button, which spins them around. If only one coach hits their button, that performer automatically joins their team, if multiple coaches hit their button, the performer gets to choose the coach they would like to work with. If no one pushes their button, sadly the performer does not move on.

During blind auditions, coaches can block, an additional button that a coach can use to prevent any of the other coaches from adding a performer. Each coach can only use their block for another coach once during the blind auditions, but it only activates if the blocked coach also hits their button for a performer.

The next stage is the battle rounds, which sees coaches pit two of their own team members up against one another singing the same song. At the end of the performance, the coach must choose which performer to take on to the next round. Additional features in the battle rounds are the steal (another coach can grab a performer off someone else’s team) and the playoff pass. The playoff pass allows both performers to advance, but the one who earns the playoff pass goes straight to the knockout round. At the end of the battle round, each coach has six performers, with one advancing to the knockout round via the playoff pass.

The knockout round once again sees teammates compete against each other, but this time singing their own song with a winner selected by their coach to move on. Each coach will again have a steal to use should they so choose.

The playoffs then determine the three artists that each coach must select from their teams to advance to the live performances.

The live performances will have the remaining artists compete against each other weekly during a live broadcast where the TV audience will vote on who advances. The performers with the lowest number of votes will be eligible for the Instant Save, where they will perform a new song for the chance to stay in the competition, again voted on by the audience. The lowest vote-getter after that is eliminated. This will continue until the finale, where America will vote on who they want to crown as the winner of The Voice.