Series 23

  Series 23 of Thomas & Friends will begin airing sometime in 2019.

Production
Mattel has greenlit a new series and several specials for Thomas & Friends that will premiere in 2019. Production has begun on the 23rd series that will consist of 20 x 11-minute episodes as well as three x 22-minute specials following the recent revamp of the series.

Series 23 will be the second series of Thomas and Friends: Big World! Big Adventures!. Thomas explores the world and back home on Sodor with his friends James, Percy, Nia, Gordon, Rebecca and Emily.

Episodes

 * 1) Free the Roads
 * 2) Chucklesome Trucks
 * 3) Heart of Gold
 * 4) Laid Back Shane
 * 5) Wish You Were Here
 * 6) Shankar's Makeover

Special Episodes

 * 1) Digs and Discoveries

Characters

 * Thomas
 * Gordon
 * James
 * Percy
 * Emily
 * Nia
 * Rebecca
 * Toby
 * Rosie
 * Glynn
 * Ashima
 * Rajiv
 * Shane
 * Yong Bao
 * Gina
 * Hong-Mei
 * Diesel
 * The Chinese Diesel
 * Noor Jehan
 * Shankar
 * Millie
 * Tamika
 * Annie and Clarabel
 * Henrietta
 * An An and Yin-Long
 * Aubrey and Aiden
 * Bertie
 * Bulgy
 * Jack
 * Alfie
 * Oliver (The Pack)
 * Max and Monty
 * Kevin
 * Ace
 * Sir Topham Hatt
 * Sir Robert Norramby
 * The Grumpy Passenger
 * Albert's Wife
 * Charubala
 * Butch (does not speak)
 * Cranky (does not speak)
 * Henry (cameo)
 * Ryan (cameo)
 * Winston (cameo)
 * Philip (cameo)
 * Judy and Jerome (cameo)
 * Carly (cameo)
 * Big Mickey (cameo)
 * Samson (stock footage)
 * Duncan (stock footage)
 * Luke (stock footage)
 * Salty (stock footage cameo)
 * Rusty (stock footage cameo)
 * Stephen (mentioned)
 * King Godred (mentioned)

Characters Introduced

 * Lorenzo
 * Beppe
 * Stefano
 * Darcy
 * Gustavo
 * No. 13 Excavator

UK, AUS and NZ

 * John Hasler as Thomas
 * Keith Wickham as Gordon, Glynn, Bertie and Sir Topham Hatt
 * Rob Rackstraw as James and Toby
 * Nigel Pilkington as Percy
 * Teresa Gallagher as Emily, Annie and Clarabel
 * Yvonne Grundy as Nia
 * Rachael Miller as Rebecca
 * Nicola Stapleton as Rosie
 * Tina Desai as Ashima
 * Nikhil Parmar as Rajiv
 * Shane Jacobson as Shane
 * Dan Li as Yong Bao
 * Emily Sharpe as Gina
 * Chipo Chung as Hong-Mei
 * Su-Lin Looi as The Chinese Diesel
 * Sanjeev Bhaskar as Shankar
 * Sheena Bhattessa as Noor Jehan and Charubala
 * Miranda Raison as Millie
 * Rose Robinson as Tamika
 * Maggie Ollerenshaw as Henrietta
 * Siu-see Hung as An An
 * Windson Liong as Yin-Long
 * Genevieve McCarthy as Aubrey
 * Tim Bain as Aiden
 * Colin McFarlane as Bulgy
 * Steven Kynman as Jack
 * Nathan Clarke as Alfie
 * Tim Whitnall as Max and Oliver the Excavator
 * Rasmus Hardiker as Monty
 * Matt Wilkinson as Kevin
 * Peter Andre as Ace
 * Mike Grady as Sir Robert Norramby
 * Francisco Labbe as Gustavo

US and CAN

 * Joseph May as Thomas
 * Kerry Shale as Gordon, Diesel, Max and Kevin
 * Rob Rackstraw as James and Monty
 * Nigel Pilkington as Percy
 * Jules de Jongh as Emily
 * Yvonne Grundy as Nia
 * Rachael Miller as Rebecca
 * William Hope as Toby
 * Nicola Stapleton as Rosie
 * Nikhil Parmar as Rajiv
 * Keith Wickham as Glynn, Bertie and Sir Topham Hatt
 * Tina Desai as Ashima
 * Shane Jacobson as Shane
 * Dan Li as Yong Bao
 * Emily Sharpe as Gina
 * Chipo Chung as Hong-Mei
 * Su-Lin Looi as The Chinese Diesel
 * Sanjeev Bhaskar as Shankar
 * Sheena Bhattessa as Noor Jehan and Charubala
 * Miranda Raison as Millie
 * Rose Robinson as Tamika
 * Teresa Gallagher as Annie and Clarabel
 * Maggie Ollerenshaw as Henrietta
 * Siu-see Hung as An An
 * Windson Liong as Yin-Long
 * Genevieve McCarthy as Aubrey
 * Tim Bain as Aiden
 * Colin McFarlane as Bulgy
 * David Menkin as Jack
 * Nathan Clarke as Alfie
 * Tim Whitnall as Oliver the Excavator
 * Peter Andre as Ace
 * Mike Grady as Sir Robert Norramby
 * Francisco Labbe as Gustavo

Japan

 * Kumiko Higa as Thomas and Gustavo
 * Kenta Miyake as Gordon
 * Masashi Ebara as James
 * Chie Kōjiro as Percy
 * Erina Yamazaki as Emily, An An and Charubala
 * Yoshino Aoyama as Nia
 * Maki Uchiyama as Rebecca
 * Tomohiro Tsuboi as Toby
 * Hisayo Mochizuki as Rosie
 * Tōru Akiyoshi as Glynn
 * Misa Ishii as Ashima and The Chinese Diesel
 * Hiroo Sasaki as Yong Bao
 * Keiko Nemoto as Gina, Henrietta and Jack
 * Mikoto Nakai as Hong-Mei
 * Ken Sanders as Diesel
 * Chiaki Mori as Noor Jehan and Tamika
 * Kōichi Sakaguchi as Shankar
 * Minako Saito as Millie
 * Sakura Yoshioka as Annie and Clarabel
 * Kunihiro Kawamoto as Yin-Long
 * Mitsuhiro Sakamaki as Bertie
 * Hinata Tadokoro as Bulgy
 * Emiko Takeuchi as Alfie
 * Yuta Odagaki as Rajiv and Oliver the Excavator
 * Hayato Fujii as Max and Monty
 * Kan Tanaka as Sir Topham Hatt
 * Kiyonobu Suzuki as Sir Robert Norramby

Trivia

 * This season marks the first of many things:
 * Gina and Ace's first appearances in an episode and their first appearances since The Great Race and Big World! Big Adventures! respectively.
 * Knapford Harbour's first appearance in full CGI and it’s first full appearance since the Season 4 episode, Special Attraction.
 * This is the first time that Thomas, Gordon, James, Percy and Emily are seen in their new CGI models. They all gain additional rivets and handrails, while Gordon gains a second permanent lamp and Thomas gains a step on the front of his tanks. Emily also gains an additional handrail above her smokebox.
 * This series will be Andrew Brenner's final series as head writer.
 * Emily Sharpe and Francisco Labbe join the voice cast.
 * Peter Andre, Colin McFarlane, Miranda Raison, Mike Grady and Nathan Clarke return to the voice cast.