Series 23

  Series 23 of Thomas & Friends has begun airing on May 18 2019 in the US & will air on September in the UK 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. The series will also see Thomas visiting two new countries: Italy and Brazil. The series will split into two halves: The first half will see thomas traveling around the world and the second half will take place back on the island of sodor.

Episodes

 * 1) The Other Big Engine
 * 2) Grudge Match
 * 3) Crowning Around
 * 4) Thomas Makes a Mistake
 * 5) Batucada
 * 6) Gordon Gets the Giggles
 * 7) Free the Roads
 * 8) Chucklesome Trucks
 * 9) Heart of Gold
 * 10) Laid Back Shane
 * 11) Wish You Were Here
 * 12) Shankar's Makeover

Special Episodes

 * 1) Digs and Discoveries

Characters

 * Thomas (main character)
 * Gordon (main character)
 * James (main character)
 * Percy (main character)
 * Emily (main character)
 * Nia (main character)
 * Rebecca (main character)
 * Toby
 * Rosie
 * Glynn
 * Ashima
 * Rajiv
 * Raul
 * Shane
 * Yong Bao
 * Gina
 * Hong-Mei
 * Diesel
 * Shankar
 * Noor Jehan
 * Millie
 * Annie and Clarabel
 * Henrietta
 * Troublesome Trucks
 * An An and Yin-Long
 * Aubrey and Aiden
 * Bertie
 * Bulgy
 * Jack
 * Alfie
 * Oliver (The Pack)
 * Max and Monty
 * Kevin
 * Ace
 * Emerson
 * Cassia
 * Sir Topham Hatt
 * Sir Robert Norramby
 * The Bird Watcher
 * The Grumpy Passenger
 * Albert's Wife
 * Charubala
 * Edward (fantasy; does not speak)
 * Flying Scotsman (fantasy; does not speak)
 * Henry (does not speak)
 * Stephen (does not speak)
 * Butch (does not speak)
 * Cranky (does not speak)
 * Ryan (cameo)
 * The White Tank Engine (cameo)
 * The Dark Red Tank Engine (cameo)
 * The Tan Tender Engine (cameo)
 * The Grey Tender Engine (cameo)
 * Philip (cameo)
 * A Diesel Shunter (cameo)
 * The Brazilian Diesel Shunter (cameo)
 * Winston (cameo)
 * Judy and Jerome (cameo)
 * The Indian Breakdown Train (cameo)
 * Carly (cameo)
 * Big Mickey (cameo)
 * Samson (stock footage)
 * Marion (stock footage)
 * Duncan (stock footage)
 * Luke (stock footage)
 * Terence (stock footage)
 * Bill and Ben (stock footage cameo)
 * Axel (stock footage cameo)
 * Carlos (stock footage cameo)
 * Frieda (stock footage cameo)
 * Salty (stock footage cameo)
 * Ivan (stock footage cameo)
 * The Mainland Diesels (stock footage cameo)
 * Rusty (stock footage cameo)
 * Farmer Finney (stock footage cameo)
 * King Godred (mentioned)

Duck, Belle, The Chinese Diesel, Isla, Tamika, Lei and Dexter are likely to appear.

Characters Introduced

 * Lorenzo
 * Beppe
 * Stefano
 * Darcy
 * Gabriela
 * Gustavo
 * No. 33 Excavator
 * No. 24 Bulldozer
 * The Thieves
 * The Grumpy Stationmaster
 * The Friendly Stationmaster
 * The Fashion Designer
 * The Brown Tender Engine (cameo)

UK, AUS and NZ

 * John Hasler as Thomas
 * Keith Wickham as Gordon, Glynn, Bertie and Sir Topham Hatt
 * Rob Rackstraw as James, Toby and the Troublesome Trucks
 * 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
 * Federico Trujillo as Raul
 * Shane Jacobson as Shane
 * Dan Li as Yong Bao
 * Emily Sharpe as Gina
 * Chipo Chung as Hong-Mei
 * Siu-see Hung as An An
 * Windson Liong as Yin-Long
 * Monica Lopera as Gabriela
 * Kerry Shale as Diesel
 * Sanjeev Bhaskar as Shankar
 * Sheena Bhattessa as Noor Jehan and Charubala
 * Francisco Labbe as Gustavo
 * Miranda Raison as Millie
 * Maggie Ollerenshaw as Henrietta
 * 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
 * Gabriel Porras as Emerson and the crowd
 * Laura Cucurullo as Cassia
 * Christopher Ragland as the Troublesome Trucks
 * Mike Grady as Sir Robert Norramby

US and CAN

 * Joseph May as Thomas
 * Kerry Shale as Gordon, Diesel, Max and Kevin
 * Rob Rackstraw as James, Monty and the Troublesome Trucks
 * Christopher Ragland as Percy and the Troublesome Trucks
 * Jules de Jongh as Emily
 * Yvonne Grundy as Nia
 * Rachael Miller as Rebecca
 * William Hope as Toby
 * Nicola Stapleton as Rosie
 * Keith Wickham as Glynn, Bertie and Sir Topham Hatt
 * Tina Desai as Ashima
 * Nikhil Parmar as Rajiv
 * Federico Trujillo as Raul
 * Shane Jacobson as Shane
 * Dan Li as Yong Bao
 * Emily Sharpe as Gina
 * Chipo Chung as Hong-Mei
 * Siu-see Hung as An An
 * Windson Liong as Yin-Long
 * Monica Lopera as Gabriela
 * Sanjeev Bhaskar as Shankar
 * Sheena Bhattessa as Noor Jehan and Charubala
 * Francisco Labbe as Gustavo
 * Miranda Raison as Millie
 * Teresa Gallagher as Annie and Clarabel
 * Maggie Ollerenshaw as Henrietta
 * 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
 * Gabriel Porras as Emerson and the crowd
 * Laura Cucurullo as Cassia
 * Mike Grady as Sir Robert Norramby

Trivia

 * This season marks the first of many things:
 * The first season to have episodes written by Camille Ucan and Rose Johnson.
 * Gina, Raul, Emerson, Cassia 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.
 * The first season to have two head writers for an episode since the nineteenth series.
 * This series will be Andrew Brenner's final series as head writer to date.
 * Emily Sharpe, Ferderico Trujillo, Francisco Labbe, Monica Lopera and Laura Cucurullo join the voice cast.
 * Peter Andre, Colin McFarlane, Miranda Raison, Mike Grady and Nathan Clarke return to the voice cast.