Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go

Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go is a reboot of the Thomas & Friends franchise which began airing in the US on Cartoon Network on 13th September 2021 and in the UK on Milkshake! on 8th November 2021. The series was also released via Netflix in the US on 29th October 2021.

Production
In 2020, Mattel Television announced a new co-production partnership with Corus Entertainment’s Nelvana Studio. 104 11-minute episodes and two 60-minute specials were greenlit for the “Thomas & Friends” television series over two seasons. The new format will feature "a new look and story structure", original songs and Thomas as the lead character of every episode.

According to executive producer Christopher Keenan, the series was 2D animated to allow the crew to cater to contemporary audiences and introduce more physicality and expressiveness in the characters. Unlike in previous series, where the characters were mostly constrained to the abilities of real locomotives, the engines are now able to jump off of the tracks, turn 360 degrees, deform their bodies and - in some instances - use their foremost wheels or front buffers like hands.

Before the series had an official title, All Engines Go Series 1 and 2 were commonly referred to as Series 25 and 26 respectively, in line with the numbering of the original twenty-four series of Thomas & Friends. This error carried over into some promotional material and marketing. The series' head writer, Rick Suvalle, has since confirmed that these were only working titles for the series during its production, as it takes place within an entirely different continuity.

Series

 * Series 1
 * Series 2
 * Series 3
 * Series 4

Specials

 * Race for the Sodor Cup
 * Mystery at Lookout Mountain
 * Untitled Third All Engines Go Movie
 * Untitled Fourth All Engines Go Movie

Trivia

 * The title Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go was trademarked in July of 2020, implying it was decided upon sometime then.
 * In addition to Callan Castle, The Railway Series-exlusive location Devil's Back was originally intended to appear in the series. Both were later replaced, with it being considered cheaper to use locations which had already been created and the word "Devil" being undesirable for younger viewers of the series, which later inspired the creation of Cannonball Curve.
 * All Engines Go also marks the return of Neil Crone to the voice cast as the voice of Gordon, having previously also provided his voice in the 2000 movie, Thomas and the Magic Railroad.
 * Both the first and second series of All Engines Go contain 52 episodes each, making them longer than the longest series of Thomas & Friends (the tenth and twentieth series, both featuring 28 episodes respectively).
 * Rebecca is the only member of the Steam Team - both old and new - not to appear in the series.
 * Partially due to the stylised graphics of the series, many of the engines have different wheel arrangements than they originally had in Thomas & Friends:
 * Edward is depicted as a 6-6-0 (a wheel arrangement which was never used in the real world) and has a four-wheeled tender.
 * Henry and Gordon are both depicted as 2-6-2s with four-wheeled tenders.
 * Hiro is depicted as a 2-6-2, though unlike Henry and Gordon retains his original number of tender wheels.
 * Ashima is depicted as an 0-6-2T.
 * Nia is depicted as a 2-6-0T.
 * Kenji is depicted as a Co-Co.
 * Carly is completely redesigned as an engine and has a six-wheeled chassis.
 * A number of products originally designed for the Thomas & Friends brand were redesigned following the release of All Engines Go:
 * In 2021, the Motorized and Push Along ranges were retooled to fit the art style of All Engines Go.
 * While the 2022 Wooden Railway range is based on the original Thomas & Friends series, some All Engines Go items are to be released in the line, namely new characters Kana and Sandy in addition to the All Engines Go version of Carly.
 * In 2022, the Thomas & Friends Storytime podcast was also retooled to be themed around All Engines Go, with Rachael Miller succeeding Mark Moraghan as its narrator.
 * Magical Tracks was updated in March 2022 to be themed around All Engines Go, with a new engine selection consisting of characters who appeared in All Engines Go and assets updated to match the new art style.
 * The voice clips used by the US Days Out with Thomas dummies of Thomas and Percy were re-recorded by their All Engines Go voice actors in the US dub of the series (Meesha Contreras and Charlie Zeltzer respectively) in early 2022.
 * Several episodes of All Engines Go share titles with episodes from the original series, including the first series episode "Off the Rails", the second series episode "Ghost Train" and the ninth series episode "Thomas' Day Off".