‘American Idol’ series finale: Josh Gracin won’t be attending; David Archuleta status still a mystery

Given how many notable “American Idol” alumni are going to be making an appearance in some way for the series finale on Thursday night, it’s almost newsworthy when we hear that somebody won’t be there. Now that Phillip Phillips is officially coming back, all of the past winners of the show have been accounted for. Now, it’s just about picking up other names.

One person who won’t be there is season 2 alum Josh Gracin, who explained to the Washington Post that both scheduling conflicts and the feeling that performing covers during the finale would hurt his chances to be taken seriously as a singer/songwriter in Nashville:

“If ‘American Idol’ doesn’t want to acknowledge what I’ve been able to do without their help…if they can’t even acknowledge the success that I’ve had and what I’ve been able to do, how am I going to get Nashville to acknowledge that and get past that stigma?”

We get where Gracin is coming from, and we cannot begrudge him of his decision since we’re not in his shoes, and have no idea what the Nashville music industry is like. We do think that some of his fans, though, will be bummed he’s not there, even if they understand why.

There are a few other notable omissions out there from the announced performers. David Archuleta is one of the biggest ones for us, given how big a sensation he was during season 7 and in the months that followed it. Also, what about Crystal Bowersox from season 9? Unfortunately, it looks like she’s going to be performing elsewhere on Thursday.

Meanwhile, we’ll be bummed if there is no Adam Lambert appearance, but at the same time he had a rather-nice showcase earlier this season and we feel like he’s certainly been honored by the show for his contributions.

We’ll have some more news when it comes to the “American Idol” finale right now over at the link here, and you can also sign up over here to get some more TV news on everything we cover, sent right over to you via our official CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: Fox.)