You’ve got that right. Thanks to the powers that be over at Freeform, Hulu, and Disney+, we once again have Project Runway on our TVs.
Season 21 of the show rebooted earlier this summer, with Heidi Klum returning to the runway as host, Nina Garcia and Law Roach as judges, and Christian Siriano as the mentor to the contestants.
And though Christian Siriano’s presence should be no surprise to anyone who watched the original series throughout the ’00s — he previously won Season 4 and then came back as a mentor in Seasons 17-20 — fans of the show might be wondering one crucial question: “Where in the world is Tim Gunn?”
Well, it turns out, after co-hosting the show for 16 seasons (and after leaving in 2018 to create a new fashion show on Amazon Video called Making the Cut), Tim Gunn was not asked back for the reboot.
More specifically, he thought he was going to be asked back, and was shocked when he wasn’t. In an interview with People earlier this year, he broke everything down:
“[In 2024], Heidi sent me a text saying, ‘There’s talk about bringing Project Runway back with us, with you and me, and would you do it?’ And I said, ‘Would I do it? Of course, there’s not a moment of hesitation in me… So Heidi and I were texting and texting, and several months later, she sent me a text asking, ‘Are you happy with your contract?’ I’m a truth-teller. I don’t even mince words. I said, ‘Well, I haven’t seen a contract.’ And she said, ‘You haven’t?’ No.”
Gunn continued, “So I called my agent, and he knew things were going on, but he contacted the executive producers of this new show, and they said, ‘We don’t want him.’ And [my agent] said, ‘Well, he’s done 19 seasons of Runway, 16 with Heidi. The two of them won an Emmy together as hosts, and now you’re going to separate them?’ And they said yes.”
Several weeks after that, Gunn revealed that the executives of the show came back to him and asked him to do a small cameo in one episode: “What do I do? Wave from a bus? As the designers are going into Mood [Fabrics]? Heidi comes to see me at the retirement home, and we play croquet? So no, thank you. And as Heidi would say, you’re either in or you’re out. And I’m out.”
However, Gunn isn’t holding any grudges. Though he revealed that he was initially “devastated” and “humiliated,” after reflecting, he’s been able to move on:
“I thought, how lucky am I to have had the experiences that I’ve had over the last 20 years? I stopped the boo-hooing. I thought, it’s really throwing hubris in the face of an angry God to mourn not being on this new show. So I’ve come to terms with it. Am I disappointed? Sure. And most of all, it’s about not working with Heidi, but we move on, and things happen for a reason.”
Though it’s officially time to say “auf wiedersehen” to Tim Gunn’s time on Project Runway, we can all sleep at night knowing that he mentored the best successor we could have asked for.
Season 21 of Project Runway will feature 10 episodes aired weekly, with the finale dropping on Thursday, September 25!