Even The Skeptics Are Coming Around: Fans React To The First Grand Tour Trailer Without Clarkson, Hammond And May
For nearly two years, the question hanging over The Grand Tour’s future has been a simple one: could anyone actually replace Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May? With the show’s first official trailer for its rebooted new season now out in the world, the early answer from fans, remarkably, seems to be: maybe.
The trailer, released ahead of the new series’ September 4 premiere on Prime Video, gives the clearest look yet at incoming hosts Francis Bourgeois, James Engelsman and Thomas Holland in action. Packed with the kind of chaotic, comedic set pieces longtime viewers will instantly recognise, a dramatic car reveal that goes hilariously wrong when Bourgeois can’t quite free the cover, Engelsman face-planting while attempting to climb into a kayak, the footage leans hard into physical comedy and genuine, unscripted-feeling mishaps rather than trying to simply replicate Clarkson, Hammond and May’s specific chemistry.
What’s genuinely striking is the online reaction since the trailer dropped. Plenty of viewers who’d previously written off the reboot entirely have been publicly reconsidering. One fan admitted they couldn’t believe they were saying it, but thought the new format actually had a real chance of working. Another, more pointedly, recalled being firmly convinced they’d never watch the show without the original trio, only to find themselves genuinely excited after seeing the trailer, adding that knowing Clarkson, Hammond and May had personally given the new hosts their blessing made a real difference to how they felt about the whole thing.
That blessing has become a genuinely important part of the new season’s marketing. Clarkson himself appeared in a clip reviewing CVs before selecting the incoming trio, while Hammond and May are also expected to feature briefly, passing the torch directly rather than simply disappearing and leaving Prime Video to handle the transition alone. It’s a detail that seems to be doing real work in reassuring skeptical longtime fans that this isn’t a hostile takeover of a beloved format, but something closer to an actual, blessed handover.
The new hosts themselves have leaned into the pressure with genuine self-awareness rather than false confidence. Bourgeois compared the challenge to “Mo Farah running in Size 14 wellies,” acknowledging it would be “a little awkward at first” before hopefully finding its footing. Holland, meanwhile, admitted that when he first heard about the reboot and who was being replaced, his own reaction was that only a moron would take the job, a genuinely funny bit of honesty that’s clearly resonated with fans wary of overly polished new-cast confidence.
The six-episode season promises the kind of globe-spanning ambition longtime viewers expect: crossing the Angolan desert in track cars, diving into Malaysia’s car culture, and testing America’s latest performance machines in California, launching simultaneously across more than 240 countries and territories.
Whether the goodwill generated by this first trailer translates into genuine, sustained viewership once the actual episodes drop remains to be seen. But for a reboot that’s spent nearly two years fighting an uphill battle against die-hard scepticism, a wave of “okay, actually, maybe” reactions from previously resistant fans represents a genuinely promising sign heading into launch week.
