The Grand Tour is getting new hosts—Francis Bourgeois, Thomas Holland, and James Engelsman—and Amazon insists they're "in no way cardboard cutouts of the old three."

Which is exactly what you'd say if they were cardboard cutouts of the old three.

Look, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May didn't just host a car show—they created a formula so specific and chemistry-dependent that it became unreplicable. Top Gear has tried multiple reboots with new presenters, and none have matched the original's cultural impact. The show worked because those three had decades of friendship, mutual antagonism, and the kind of timing you can't manufacture.

Variety reports that the new trio brings fresh energy and perspectives, which is corporate speak for "they're younger and cheaper." Bourgeois has a massive TikTok following for train enthusiasm (yes, really), Holland is a motoring journalist, and Engelsman is a YouTube creator. They're talented, but they're not walking into an easy situation.

The challenge isn't replicating Clarkson's bombast or May's pedantry—it's creating new chemistry that justifies the show's existence. If this is just "Top Gear but younger," why not just watch old episodes?

Here's the thing: The Grand Tour already felt like a victory lap. It was Clarkson, Hammond, and May doing increasingly expensive road trips while making the same jokes they'd been making for twenty years. It was comfort food television—entertaining but not essential.

Rebooting it without them feels like Amazon trying to keep a brand alive rather than letting it end gracefully. And maybe that works! Maybe Bourgeois, Holland, and Engelsman have genuine chemistry and create something worth watching. But it's hard not to feel like this is a show that earned its ending, and we're denying it that dignity.

In Hollywood, nobody knows anything—except that replacing iconic hosts is really, really hard, and nostalgia is a hell of a drug.