America’s Got Talent Is Back — and with More Golden Buzzers for Season 19! See the First Look (Exclusive)

America's Got Talent is back and bigger than ever!

In PEOPLE's exclusive first look at season 19 of AGT, judge and executive producer Simon Cowell teases what's to come by sharing a brand new twist.

Cowell and returning judges Sofía Vergara, Heidi Klum and Howie Mandel will receive two Golden Buzzers each while host Terry Crews will keep his one for a total of nine buzzers up for grabs. Like always, a Golden Buzzer will have the power to send acts straight to the live shows.

"In the first two days we’ve used more Golden Buzzers than we’ve ever used - that’s got to be a good sign!” Cowell, 64, tells PEOPLE after the first week of filming in Pasadena, California.

The 19^th season of America’s Got Talent is set to return on May 28, bringing fans "some of the wildest acts to ever grace the AGT stage," per the new season's logline. The live shows will then kick off on Aug. 13 at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, with results shows scheduled for Wednesday nights.

Season 18 saw Adrian Stoica and his dog Hurricane take home the AGT crown and the $1 million prize in an exciting two-night finale.

The trainer and his border collie proved to be a crowd-pleaser all the way from their audition — during which they performed various impressive tricks set to "Better When I'm Dancing" by Meghan Trainor — to their finale act set to Queen's "Crazy Little Thing Called Love."

While speaking to PEOPLE backstage after the show, Cowell admitted that the season's outcome came as a "bit of a surprise" to him.

"You can't please everyone — there were people who were disappointed, people who were surprised, but it's a public vote, and their act last night was amazing," he said of Stoica and his pup at the time. "So a bit of a surprise, but I'm happy. I would've been happy with anyone winning from last night, if I'm being honest with you."

Cowell explained that, after so many years in the business, he's grown "used to" being surprised by the results. In fact, he said, one of his favorite things about this season's champions is that they weren't expecting to win at all.

"The dog is so adorable," added the judge. "And I think that was pretty amazing. It was like a happy ending."

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America’s Got Talent season 19 will premiere Tuesday, May 28 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.