Is ‘Fixer Upper’ Returning to HGTV With a New Season?

Joanna Gaines and Chip Gaines rose to fame on their HGTV show, Fixer Upper, but the couple ultimately decided to step away from the series after five seasons. And while searches regarding the show’s return have only been increasing, HGTV boss Kathleen Finch told The Wrap last year that she can’t imagine the show coming back with another set of stars.

“What made the show special was Chip and Jo,” she said. “I don’t see that we would ever make it with someone else.”

“Obviously, we didn’t want them to go because we love them,” she added, confirming that the decision to end the show was made by the Gaines’ themselves. “We’re never going to stand in the way of talent… we understand that when family calls we don’t want anybody to be unhappy in their job.”

The Gaines previously shared that they decided to end Fixer Upper due to their mounting commitments, which include several businesses in Waco, Texas, a furniture line, magazine, upcoming hotel and more. They are also parents to five children and wanted to focus more on their family.

“It was just too much for them to handle,” Finch said.

Chip and Joanna announced in the fall of 2017 that they would be exiting Fixer Upper, calling the series “an amazing adventure” in a blog post.

“While we are confident that this is the right choice for us, it has for sure not been an easy one to come to terms with,” the post read. “Our family has grown up alongside yours, and we have felt you rooting us on from the other side of the screen. How bittersweet to say goodbye to the very thing that introduced us all in the first place.”

While they won’t be returning to the show that made them famous, fans will still be able to get their Chip and Jo fix with the Gaines’ upcoming television network next year when their lifestyle brand, Magnolia, launches a multi-platform media company with Discovery. A press release shares that the initiative will launch in the summer of 2020 with a linear TV network and TV Everywhere app. There are also plans for a subscription streaming service to debut at a later date, with all content “inspired by Magnolia and driven by the Gaines’ creative vision.”

Joanna shared a peek of what fans can expect from the network at this year’s INBOUND conference in Boston in September, sharing that it will be “centered around lifestyle, home kitchen, business, everything. There’s this whole wellness thing.”

“That’s been the most fun part, finding these stories, either people we’ve known, we’ve met, we’re meeting via social media,” she said, via PEOPLE. “What we are finding is amazing people who are great in those specific genres and highlighting their stories. There’s amazing stories that are waiting to be told, and that felt like the perfect for for Magnolia.”

Photo Credit: Getty / Larry Busacca