Simon Cowell, who put One Direction together on The X Factor in 2010 and signed the group to his record label, said Wednesday he believes there will be a reunion.
“My gut feeling is … yeah, I do think it will happen,” he said during an appearance on UK radio station Capital FM. “It would be nuts not to. Even if it was a one-off event or something, it’s just too big of an opportunity not to do.”
Asked if he believes any one member of One Direction could surpass the success of the group, Cowell was diplomatic. “I have respect for every one of them,” he replied. “They’ve all gone off in their different directions.
“They’re great and they were always nice guys.”
Liam Payne has said in interviews he could see a 1D reunion happening within two years. Louis Tomlinson said in March that a 1D reunion is a "no brainer."
“Honestly I'll be the first name on the team sheet, I'll be signing it straight away I tell you,” he told The Sun. “You feel like we’ve got a responsibility actually to come back to these people.”
Speaking to Rolling Stone in August, Harry Styles said: "I don't think I'd ever say I'd never do it again, because I don't feel that way. If there's a time when we all really want to do it, that's the only time for us to do it, because I don't think it should be about anything else other than the fact that we're all like, 'Hey, this was really fun. We should do this again.'"
Niall Horan told The Daily Telegraph last month: "I’m enjoying what I’m doing, but if one of the lads were to pick up the phone and say it’s time, I’d do it."
Any 1D reunion will almost definitely not include Zayn Malik, who left the group in 2015. “Nah. I ain't spoke to any of them for a long time, to be honest with you,” Malik told British Vogue. “That’s just the way it is."