Although he often dishes a cold dose of reality along with his opinions, Simon Cowell sounded surprisingly optimistic on The Ellen Degeneres Show today. In a pre-taped interview, the American Idol judge predicted he’d be part of another quartet during Season 9.

“I think certainly next year everyone’s going to be back,” he said. When asked if he really believed newcomer Kara DioGuardi would return, Cowell added, “Absolutely.”

This reveal comes despite (minor?) criticisms about the shortened critiquing process. In a recent appearance on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Simon said Kara added to the rambling factor. “Paula used to talk a lot last year, now you’ve got Paula times 5. So we don’t actually get to say anything,” he claimed. The judge then referenced a recent producing decision during his chat with Degeneres. “One week literally we couldn’t talk, so 10 minutes before the show started they said, ‘Oh by the way you can’t talk for half the show,’” he recalled. “It’s rather like saying in a singing competition to the singers, half of you can’t sing. It was just crazy.”

So will DioGuardi’s one-year contract truly be renewed, or will Abdul soon get Simon and Randy to herself again? We’ll have that answer for you….after the break.