James Corden has long had a soft spot in his heart for the men of One Direction. He’s hosted them and done bits with the beloved boy band’s members over the course of his eight years hosting the Late Late Show. So naturally given their affection for one another speculation has been running rampant that Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson would get the band back together to honor Corden’s final curtain call.
In a tweet on Thursday afternoon (April 13) — over a screenshot of a British tabloid report claiming that the five-piece would reunite for the first time in 8 years for Corden’s swan song — the show stamped the words “FALSE ALARM” in red letters. “Nobody loves the boys more than us … but this story just isn’t true,” read the let-down message to anyone who believed that the quintet are getting the band back together to honor their pal one last time.
“What is true is we’ve got an absolutely brilliant 2 hour finale planned to celebrate 8 years of #LateLateShow at 10pm on April 27th,” the tweet added.
One Direction visited the Late Late Show in May 2015, shortly after Malik took leave from the group, with Styles, Horan, Payne and Tomlinson cramming into a minivan for a “Carpool Karaoke” segment. Over the years Payne has dropped by to do a “Boy Bands Vs. Solo Artists Riff-Off” with Corden and perform “Strip That Down,” while Horan has done his own “Carpool” segment, a “500 Miles” song parody, and, just last month, a musical pirate sketch.
Tomlinson popped in last year and performed “Bigger Than Me” — while proving game to talk about whether he was open to being kidnapped in another long-running 1D bit on the show — and also performed in a number of sketches over the years. Styles has allowed Corden to film a low-budget music video for him, done a week-long residency, played a very spicy “Spill Your Guts” with Kendall Jenner, guest hosted, shot his own “Carpool” trip and even a Crosswalk Concert over the years.
Check out the Late Late Show‘s tweet below.
