Last year, "American Idol" scored big with the Wild Card round. After being snubbed by the voters in his Group, Clay Aiken was the nation's Wild Card choice and went on to be the competition's runner-up and perhaps its ultimate breakout star.

Executive Producer Nigel Lythgoe says that for the third season, the Wild Card format will remain largely unchanged. Once again, each judge will champion a favorite (a process that kept Carmen Rasmusen, Trenyce and Kim Caldwell in the game last year) and once again viewers at home will select one favorite.

The only major difference will occur in the preliminaries leading up to the Wild Card.

"We're hoping to bring back 12 contestants, of which, eight will sing," Lythgoe says. "The judges are going to watch them over a couple of days of rehearsing and make their decision live on the night which 8 of the 12 will sing and audition again for America."

During last Tuesday's (Feb. 10) show, host Ryan Seacrest revealed that the Wild Card show may again include contestants from each round of auditions. That could mean a reprieve for Scooter Girl, the girl who called Simon gay, the guy who gave Paula a lap dance or even the Notorious William Hung.

It's too early for Lythgoe to know who will be back for the Wild Card rounds, though he suspects it will offer the producers a chance to add more diversity to the Final 12.

"Obviously, until we know who's in and who isn't in, we don't want to pin ourselves down too much," Lythgoe notes. "We also don't want to pin down how many boys against girls. I personally think we're going to an awful lot of girls this year. I think the girls are stronger. So I might weight the Wild Card show in favor of boys to try and make it a bit more even."

One thing that Lythgoe can promise is that the much-maligned guest judges will be back when "American Idol" reaches its Final 12.

"Simon hates the guest judges with a vengeance, which is why we're bringing them back again this year," he laughs. "I've got to do something to annoy him."

Although the show is well along, Lythgoe isn't sure that he has seen the next "American Idol" yet.

"I thought Ruben and Frenchie were outstanding last year," he recalls. "I thought Tamyra was outstanding in the first year. And then, during the Top 10 in the first year, Kelly grew and grew and grew. During the Top 12 in the second season, Clay grew and grew and grew. I haven't seen anyone outstanding in this group. I think they are all much stronger than both years as a pack. Now it will be interesting to see how they grow."