James May Won’t Return to Top Gear Without Clarkson

James May has shed some light on the future of Top Gear. 

“It has to be the three of us. You can’t just put a surrogate Jeremy in and expect it to carry on,” May told The Guardian. “It would be forced. I don’t believe they would be stupid enough to try that.” This leaves the immediate future of Top Gear uncertain, as the BBC has announced that the show will continue. If that happens, three new hosts will need to be brought in.

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May has agreed to shoot whatever is needed to complete the final three episodes of the 22nd season of the show without Clarkson and the BBC has already committed to airing them. Although in the short term there will be no new Top Gear episodes staring the three famous hosts, May does think that in the future the show could come back in some form.

“In the future when all this has blown over there might be an opportunity for three of us to get back together on the BBC to do Top Gear or a car show of some sort,” May told The Guardian. “The BBC haven’t completely closed the door on Jeremy’s return. They’ve not banned him or fired him, only just not renewed his contract for the moment. It’s a subtle difference but an important one.”

May also added that there is “nothing to rule out” when it comes to the three of them approaching another network to start a new car show.

[Source: The Guardian]