James May has shut down rumours there could be a reunion between him, Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond.
From 2003 until 2015, the trio hosted BBC’s motoring show Top Gear, going on to present The Grand Tour between 2016 and 2024.
Since then, there’s been plenty of talk about whether they will be seen on screens together again, however May has now ruled that out, saying they’ve now ‘disbanded’.
‘There isn’t going to be a reunion,’ he told ABC News Breakfast.
‘We’re not like Led Zeppelin or anything like that. In many ways, we’re not like Led Zeppelin.’
However, he did admit the end of their TV partnership last year was an ‘emotional experience’.
‘I was in that job longer than I have been in any other job by a long, long way,’ he continued.
‘Most other jobs I managed a few years in before I was fired for one reason or another. It was longer than I spent at school. So, whether I like it or not, those other two are a very significant part of my life.
‘It’s a cliche to say end of an era and all that sort of stuff, but it was.’
After more than two decades working together, May said they realised it was ‘probably time to stop’ as they wanted to ‘land it with dignity and not fly into thee cliffs’.
Adding they were ‘getting on a bit’, he said it was time for a younger generation to ‘think of a new way of talking about things like cars and transport generally’.
How long did James May, Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond work together?
After more than 20 years working together, in 2024 James May, Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond ended their professional partnership.
From 1988 until 1999, Clarkson was a presenter on the original Top Gear, with May briefly also appearing on the show its final year on air.
Two years after the series was cancelled, Top Gear relaunched with Clarkson and Hammond at the helm, with May then joining the second season in 2003 after replacing Jason Dawe.
The line-up then remained unchanged until the end of the 22nd season, when the BBC chose to not renew Clarkson’s contract in 2015 after he assaulted a producer while filming. The other two then also stepped down from the programme.
They then signed up to work on The Grand Tour together, which ran from 2016 until last year.
At the time he spoke about the decision to step away to The Sunday Times: ‘After 36 years of talking about cars on television, I’m packing it in, because I’m too old and fat to get into the cars that I like and not interested in driving those I don’t.
‘What this means of course is that my 22-year partnership with James May and Richard Hammond is now over. You can see our final road trip together on Amazon Prime very soon. It’s emotional.’
However earlier this week Amazon Prime revealed details of four upcoming The Grand Tour specials that would see them reflect on that long-running series.
In 2016, they reunited for the series, which initially followed a similar format to the BBC motoring series.
However after a decade, last year the final special went to air, which saw the trio travel across Zimbabwe in cars they always wanted to own.
But six months on, Amazon Prime has now announced it will be releasing four retrospective episodes, which will look back at the best moments of the series.
The first special will be The Not Very Grand Tour: The Power And The Glory, which will see Hammond and May ‘celebrate the glory of the internal combustion engine’ by looking back at the series.
‘These include the hyper car holy trinity, muscle cars in Detroit, a city sprint in a Bugatti, the world’s craziest tank, and a race between the past, present and future,’ the streaming service said.
Other instalments include The Grand-ish Tour: A Trip Down Memory Lane, The Grand-ish Tour: A Bit Further Down Memory Lane and The Grand-ish Tour: Completely Lost Down Memory Lane.
Clarkson will take part in those, where they will all look back at moments in California, Morocco, Colorado, Scandinavia, and Mongolia.
Amazon has also teased that they will also celebrate stuff they built including a self-assembly car that crossed Mongolia, and Clarkson’s home-made SUV, along with their explosions, and making a ‘heartfelt farewell to an old friend’.
They specials are set to be released later this year and into 2026.
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Last year Clarkson admitted he was ‘mostly smashed’ while filming the final episode of The Grand Tour.
Speaking at a Q&A following a premiere screening of The Grand Tour: One For The Road, the 64-year-old revealed he and his co-stars were ‘mostly smashed’ during filming but ‘hopefully nobody will notice’.
The Not Very Grand Tour: The Power And The Glory will be streaming from April 18 on Amazon Prime Video.
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A version of this article was originally published on March 28, 2025.
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