Building The Band: Netflix bosses could cut scenes involving Liam Payne from new show amid fears of being insensitive

Liam Payne died at the age of 31 after falling from a third-floor balcony at a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina in October 2024. Netflix announced a few months before his death that the singer was involved in a new reality show called Building The Band as a judge, alongside Nicole Scherzinger and Kelly Rowland.

The show, hosted by Backstreet Boys member AJ McLean, has been touted by the streaming service as finding the next big band. However, the future of the series was thrown into doubt following the death of Liam.

Bosses at Netflix are now reportedly considering cutting back on the number of scenes involving the former boyband member, while ensuring that the singer still has a presence in the show.

The Sun reports that a source close to production said: “The feeling among execs at Netflix is that they want to err on the side of caution, and if that means having Liam in the least amount of scenes possible then that’s the step they’re willing to take. They want to strike the right balance between having him feature in the show, doing the thing he loved, with having him feature too much, which would be a lot for his loved ones to contend with.”

They added that bosses are still in discussion with Liam’s family concerning his involvement in the show, but said that fans “may be surprised by how little he ends up featuring” in the completed series, which is scheduled to released at some point in 2025.

The source continued: “The one option they probably don’t have is to remove him entirely from the show, even if they wanted to, because he’s an intrinsic part of the process the boy bands go through on the series.”

The news comes after the charges brought against two hotel workers and Liam’s friend Rogelio ‘Roger’ Nores were dropped by Argentinian prosecutors. Roger, who had previously been charged with manslaughter alongside the two hotel workers, told Rolling Stone: “Glad this is finally over. I'm happy I'm now going to be able to travel to the UK and say goodbye to my friend."

Two other hotel workers, Eziquiel Pereyra and Braian Paiz, were also charged with supplying cocaine to Liam before his death, which was caused by “polytrauma from multiple injuries, as well as internal and external bleeding. Their charges still stand and they remain in prison awaiting trial.