Season 22

The twenty-second season (going under the name Big World! Big Adventures!) of Thomas & Friends is expected to be released in 2018 on Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon.

Production
Season 22 will mark the first major "reboot" of the franchise since the show switched to full CGI in the thirteenth season. The episodes will keep their eleven minute-long runtime, but will now be broken into seven minute-long stories, with an additional four minutes reserved for a variety of segments like sing-along karaoke songs, music videos or Thomas talking directly with the audience about lessons learned during a particular episode. Among many other changes, Edward and Henry will be removed from the Steam Team to make room for Nia and Rebecca, and the narrator has been replaced with Thomas talking to the audience (however, Mark Moraghan has said that he will still work on the series).

Season 22 will be set after [https://tttefanfic.wikia.com/wiki/Big_World!_Big_Adventures! Big World! Big Adventures!]. The season will be split into two halves; the first half will see Thomas travelling around the world and visiting India, Australia and China, while the second half will take place back on the Island of Sodor. The season will also be released on Netflix, Amazon and Hulu in the fall of 2018.

Episodes

 * 1) Number One Engine
 * 2) Forever and Ever
 * 3) Confusion Without Delay
 * 4) Trusty Trunky
 * 5) What Rebecca Does
 * 6) Thomas Goes to Bollywood
 * 7) Thomas in the Wild
 * 8) Thomas and the Monkey Palace
 * 9) An Engine of Many Colours
 * 10) Outback Thomas
 * 11) School of Duck
 * 12) Tiger Trouble
 * 13) Seeing is Believing
 * 14) Apology Impossible
 * 15) The Water Wheel
 * 16) The Case of the Puzzling Parts
 * 17) Runaway Truck
 * 18) Kangaroo Christmas
 * 19) Thomas and the Dragon
 * 20) Samson and the Fireworks
 * 21) Rosie is Red
 * 22) Thomas' Animal Ark
 * 23) Hunt the Truck
 * 24) Cyclone Thomas
 * 25) Banjo and the Bushfire
 * 26) Counting on Nia

Characters

 * Thomas
 * Gordon
 * James
 * Percy
 * Emily
 * Nia
 * Sir Topham Hatt
 * Edward
 * Henry
 * Toby
 * Duck
 * Bill and Ben
 * Flying Scotsman
 * Harvey
 * Spencer
 * Rosie
 * Stanley
 * Belle
 * Porter
 * Marion
 * Samson
 * Ashima
 * Rajiv
 * Shane
 * Yong Bao
 * Merlin
 * Diesel
 * Daisy
 * Salty
 * Paxton
 * Sidney
 * Philip
 * Shankar
 * The Chinese Diesel
 * Victor
 * Annie and Clarabel
 * Henrietta
 * Troublesome Trucks
 * Judy and Jerome
 * The Male Chinese Breakdown Crane
 * Bradford
 * Hannah
 * Trevor
 * Cranky
 * Kevin
 * Reg
 * Carly
 * Lady Hatt
 * Dowager Hatt
 * Cyril the Fogman
 * Duke and Duchess of Boxford
 * Stephen (does not speak)
 * Slip Coaches (do not speak)
 * Sir Robert Norramby (does not speak)
 * Oliver (life lesson; does not speak)
 * Hugo (life lesson; does not speak)
 * Luke (life lesson; does not speak)
 * Millie (life lesson; does not speak)
 * Toad (life lesson; does not speak)
 * Max and Monty (life lesson; do not speak)
 * The Deputy Minister (life lesson; does not speak)
 * The Grey Tender Engine (cameo)
 * The Brazilian Diesel Shunter (cameo)
 * Winston (cameo)
 * Skiff (cameo)
 * Jack (cameo)
 * Owen (cameo)
 * Big Mickey (cameo)
 * The Teacher (cameo)
 * The Thin Clergyman (cameo)
 * Ryan (stock footage cameo)
 * Den (stock footage cameo)
 * Flynn (stock footage cameo)
 * Oliver (The Pack) (stock footage cameo)
 * Ferdinand (portrait cameo)
 * Hiro(music video cameo)
 * Charlie (music video cameo)
 * Connor (music video cameo)
 * Caitlin (music video cameo)
 * Gator (music video cameo)
 * Frieda (music video cameo)
 * Gina (music video cameo)
 * Dart (music video cameo)
 * Etienne (music video cameo)

Characters Introduced

 * Rebecca
 * Hong-Mei
 * Tamika
 * Noor Jehan
 * Dexter
 * An An and Yin-Long
 * Aubrey and Aiden
 * Lei
 * Isla
 * Banjo
 * Charubala
 * Dr. Claire
 * The Indian Director
 * The Indian Actor
 * The Indian Concessions Worker
 * The Indian Breakdown Train (do not speak)
 * The Purple Tank Engine (cameo)
 * The Purple Tender Engine(cameo)
 * The Chinese Diesel Shunter (cameo)

UK and Australia

 * John Hasler as Thomas
 * Keith Wickham as Gordon, Edward, Henry, Harvey, Salty, Sir Topham Hatt and Dowager Hatt
 * Rob Rackstraw as James, Toby, Bradford, and Big Mickey
 * Nigel Pilkington as Percy and Trevor
 * Teresa Gallagher as Emily, Belle, Annie, Clarabel, Judy, Lady Hatt and Duchess of Boxford
 * Yvonne Grundy as Nia
 * Rachael Miller as Rebecca, Isla and The Teacher
 * Rasmus Hardiker as Bill and Philip
 * Matt Wilkinson as Ben, Cranky, Spencer, Stanley, Kevin and Duke of Boxford
 * David Bedella as Victor
 * Nicola Stapleton as Rosie
 * Christopher Ragland as the Troublesome Trucks
 * Steven Kynman as Duck, Porter and Paxton
 * Kerry Shale as Diesel and Cyril the Fogman
 * Tracy-Ann Oberman as Daisy
 * Bob Golding as Sidney
 * Tim Whitnall as Jerome and Reg
 * Robert Wilfort as Samson
 * Rufus Jones as Flying Scotsman
 * Lucy Montgomery as Carly, Hannah and the Troublesome Trucks
 * Maggie Ollerenshaw as Henrietta
 * Tina Desai as Ashima
 * Nikhil Parmar as Rajiv and the Indian Director
 * Sanjeev Bhaskar as Shankar and the Indian Actor
 * Sheena Bhattessa as Noor Jehan and Charubala
 * Jass Patel as the Indian Concessions Worker
 * Dan Li as Yong Bao
 * Chipo Chung as Hong-Mei
 * Siu-See Hung as An An
 * Windson Liong as Yin-Long, Lei and the Chinese Guard
 * Su-Lin Looi as the Chinese Diesel
 * Shane Jacobson as Shane
 * Genevieve McCarthy as Aubrey
 * Tim Bain as Aiden
 * Mark Moraghan as Dexter
 * Hugh Bonneville as Merlin
 * Ian McCue as a Tiger Hunter
 * Charlie Barnard as a Child
 * Damon Denton Snape as a Child
 * Mia Hope Gaywood as a Child
 * Jessica Hann as a Child
 * Holly Hazelton as a Child
 * Innis Robertson-Pinnell as a Child

US and CAN

 * Joseph May as Thomas
 * Kerry Shale as Gordon, Henry Diesel, Kevin and Cyril the Fogman
 * Rob Rackstraw as James, Bradford and Big Mickey
 * Christopher Ragland as Percy, Trevor and the Troublesome Trucks
 * Jules de Jongh as Emily, Lady Hatt and Duchess of Boxford
 * Yvonne Grundy as Nia
 * Rachael Miller as Rebecca, Isla and The Teacher
 * Keith Wickham as Harvey, Salty, Sir Topham Hatt, and Dowager Hatt
 * William Hope as Edward, Toby and Duke of Boxford
 * Rasmus Hardiker as Bill and Philip
 * Matt Wilkinson as Ben
 * Glenn Wrage as Cranky and Spencer
 * David Bedella as Victor
 * Teresa Gallagher as Belle, Annie, Clarabel and Judy
 * Nicola Stapleton as Rosie
 * Steven Kynman as Duck and Paxton
 * David Menkin as Porter
 * Tracy-Ann Oberman as Daisy
 * Bob Golding as Sidney
 * Tim Whitnall as Jerome and Reg
 * Robert Wilfort as Samson
 * Rufus Jones as Flying Scotsman
 * John Schwab as Stanley
 * Lucy Montgomery as Hannah, Carly and the Troublesome Trucks
 * Maggie Ollerenshaw as Henrietta
 * Tina Desai as Ashima
 * Nikhil Parmar as Rajiv and the Indian Director
 * Sanjeev Bhaskar as Shankar and the Indian Actor
 * Sheena Bhattessa as Noor Jehan and Charubala
 * Jass Patel as the Indian Concessions Worker
 * Dan Li as Yong Bao
 * Chipo Chung as Hong-Mei
 * Siu-See Hung as An An
 * Windson Liong as Yin-Long, Lei and the Chinese Guard
 * Su-Lin Looi as the Chinese Diesel
 * Shane Jacobson as Shane
 * Genevieve McCarthy as Aubrey
 * Tim Bain as Aiden
 * Mark Moraghan as Dexter
 * Hugh Bonneville as Merlin
 * Ian McCue as a Tiger Hunter
 * Charlie Barnard as a Child
 * Damon Denton Snape as a Child
 * Mia Hope Gaywood as a Child
 * Jessica Hann as a Child
 * Holly Hazelton as a Child
 * Innis Robertson-Pinnell as a Child

Trivia

 * This episode marks the first of a couple of things:
 * This is the first season since the nineteenth season to feature episodes running for 22 minutes long.
 * This is the first season since the twelfth season to have a 7-minute episode runtime. 5 minutes are dedicated to the story itself, and the remaining parts consist of musical numbers and learning segments.
 * The first season since the twentieth season where Thomas appears in every episode and the first season since the nineteenth season where he speaks in all of them.
 * This is the first season to have more than one female member in the main cast, in this case three - Nia, Rebecca and Emily. This was done in response to criticism over the lack of female members in the main cast.
 * This is the first season to feature the Big World! Big Adventures! Steam Team lineup - Thomas, Gordon, James, Percy, Emily, Nia and Rebecca. Toby is also included in the BWBA version of Engine Roll Call.
 * This is the first season to have Thomas speaking from his perspective.
 * This is the first season since the twelfth season to have episodes with a 7-minute runtime. However, the story length is shorter in order to accommodate learning segments and musical numbers.
 * This is the first season to be completely animated by Jam Filled, as Arc Productions animated some episodes in Season 21. ,
 * Shankar, Merlin, Nia, Yong Bao, Rajiv, Ashima, The Grey Tender Engine and Shane's first appearances in an episode.
 * The first time the Aquarium cars appeared in the CGI Series.
 * Tim Bain, Charlie Barnard, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Sheena Bhattessa, Damon Denton Snape, Mia Hope-Gaywood, Jessica Hann, Holly Hazelton, Siu-see Hung, Shane Jacobson, Windson Liong, Genevieve McCarthy, Nikhil Parmar, Jass Patel and Innis Robertson-Pinnell join the voice cast.
 * This is the last season to date to have Micaela Winter as producer, who stepped down from Mattel Creations in August 2018.
 * This is the last season to have Lee Pressman as a writer, and the first season to have Tim Bain and Michael White as writers.
 * This season takes place in 2018, but Kangaroo Christmas takes place in 2017.