Season 29 of 'The Voice' Makes a Big Change With Three Judges Instead of Four

Most seasons of The Voice feature four judges, five stages, and tons of talented singers. For Season 29, however, there is a big change in the form of not how many artists make it through on The Voice, but the number of judges on the show. This time around, there are three instead of four, and fans want to know why The Voice changed its format so suddenly.

They also want to know what this means for how the competition plays out and who is actually on the judges' panel in Season 29. John Legend, Kelly Clarkson, and Adam Levine are all judges and coaches for Season 29 of The Voice. They've all done their fair share of coaching on the show in the past, but there might be more pressure with just three of them on the panel.

Showrunner Audrey Morrissey spoke to Gold Derby about why producers made the decision to switch to just three judges for The Voice, at least for Season 29.

"The hours this season are considerably less," she told the outlet. She added that if they kept four judges, the small teams would have been "ridiculous" in the grand scheme of things. So, a shorter season means fewer singers and less of a need for four judges/coaches to help them out.

This isn't the first time The Voice switched things up on viewers. In the past, there have been "guest" judges as fifth judges added to the panel, like in Season 20 when country music singer Kelsea Ballerini joined as a guest judge. Bebe Rexha joined four other judges in Season 16 because of the "Comeback Stage" twist of that season.

Even though having three judges is a little unheard of, given the history of The Voice, it's not something totally undoable. The season also features a reduced schedule and reduced number of contestants, so without too many cooks in the kitchen, three judges should be the right number, at least for a shortened season.

There are 30 contestants in Season 29 of The Voice, which is 18 fewer than usual. Although that could mean fewer twists and excitement for viewers at home, that doesn't seem to be the case. According to NBC, a "Triple Turn Competition" twist is in play in Season 29. It's all about the fact that there are three chairs that need to turn to show a judge's interest in the competing singers.

Per NBC, the "Triple Turn Competition" focuses on how many artists get three chair turns during the Blind Auditions. The coach whose team has the most will get a special advantage called the 'Super Steal' for the competition. The Super Steal enables a coach to potentially steal a strong dinger from another team to bring to their team. In a season where there are fewer judges and fewer singers competing, the more twists the better.