A devastating setback hits the “Home Town” spinoff—here’s what’s confirmed
The “Home Town” universe was supposed to expand in the most tangible way yet, with a boutique hotel project turning small-town nostalgia into a place fans could actually book a room. Instead, a catastrophic fire ripped through that dream, leaving charred beams where a centerpiece of the new spinoff once stood and throwing the show’s future into doubt. What has emerged since is a clearer picture of the damage, the emotional toll on everyone involved, and a measured but real assurance that viewers will still get to see the story unfold.
In the space between devastation and recovery, the “Home Town” team has been forced to answer a hard question: how do you keep filming a feel-good renovation series when the building at its heart has burned? The response from Ben and Erin Napier, their friends, and the production crew has been to confront the loss head-on, recommit to the project, and reshape the spinoff into a chronicle of resilience rather than a simple before-and-after.
The fire that shattered a dream project
The hotel at the center of the spinoff was never just another renovation. The property, known as The Heirloom, sits in the heart of Laurel, Mississippi, the same downtown that “Home Town” has spent years turning into a character in its own right. For Erin and Ben Napier, the building represented a chance to translate their television ethos into a real gathering place, a project big enough to anchor an entire new series. When flames tore through the structure, that ambition was suddenly replaced by the sight of a landmark engulfed, its future uncertain and its owners facing the loss of what Erin, who is 40, had described as a deeply personal investment for close friends.
Those friends, identified as the couple behind the hotel, had poured themselves into the renovation long before cameras rolled. Erin later said “this was their baby” and described watching them “give their all” to the project, only to see it go up in smoke, as a “devastating” experience that left everyone reeling. The fire did not just threaten a TV schedule, it upended the lives and finances of people the Napiers care about, and it shook a community that had rallied around the idea of a historic hotel bringing new energy to downtown. In that context, the blaze became the defining setback for the spinoff, a moment when the entire premise of the show seemed to collapse along with the building’s interior.
Inside the “devastating” blow to the spinoff
In the immediate aftermath, the question hanging over the project was brutally simple: would the “Home Town” hotel spinoff survive at all? Erin admitted publicly that she did not know “what will happen next or if you’ll ever get to see this @hgtv show now,” a rare moment of uncertainty from a host whose brand is built on confident transformations. That raw honesty captured how thoroughly the fire had scrambled the production plan, from story outlines to construction timelines, and it made clear that the setback was not a scripted twist but a genuine crisis for everyone involved in the series.
Ben, for his part, stepped into the role of both contractor and de facto spokesperson, acknowledging that the loss of the nearly finished interiors meant tearing out and rebuilding work that had already taken a year and a half. The couple’s friends were suddenly facing the prospect of starting over inside a shell that had only just been brought back to life. When Erin described how “to watch them give their all” and then see the building burn together was “devastating,” she was not only speaking as a television personality but as someone watching a dream project for people she loves go up in flames. That emotional weight is what turned a production delay into a genuine heartbreak for the “Home Town” family.
What Ben and Erin have confirmed about the show’s future
As the smoke cleared, the most pressing concern for fans was whether the spinoff would ever make it to air. After those first uncertain days, Ben began to offer a more hopeful answer. He has now confirmed that the episodes built around the hotel renovation are still moving forward and are expected to premiere in 2026, even if the exact date has not been set. In his words, “the episodes are going to” air, a simple but significant promise that the work poured into the project will not be lost to the cutting-room floor, despite the fire that interrupted it.
That assurance has been echoed across multiple updates. Coverage of the tragedy has emphasized that, while the fire was a severe blow, the renovation will still be seen as part of a dedicated spinoff that captures both the original vision and the aftermath. One detailed account of the incident and its fallout notes that Ben has been clear about the show’s fate, even as he and Erin juggle the demands of their flagship series and the emotional labor of helping friends rebuild. Another report, highlighting how HGTV favorite Ben has handled the tragedy, underscores that the commitment to airing the episodes is firm, even if the team is still working through what the final cut will look like.
How the crew and community are rebuilding
The decision to continue filming did not come from the hosts alone. The crew behind the hotel spinoff has been unusually visible in sharing how they are processing the loss and pushing ahead. In a video message framed around the phrase Keep Building, a crew member named Nowell explained that they were “about to tear out everything that we spent a year and a half” creating inside the hotel. That blunt description captured the scale of the setback in practical terms: not just a damaged set, but the erasure of months of craftsmanship, design decisions, and storytelling beats that had already been filmed. Yet the same update stressed that the show is still expected to air in 2026 on @hgtv, turning the rebuild itself into part of the narrative.
Local support has been just as crucial. The Heirloom is not an anonymous property on the edge of town, it is a prominent building in Laurel’s historic core, and its revival has been closely watched by residents and fans who have seen the city’s transformation on screen. Reports on the fire note that the hotel could be seen on fire from around downtown, a jarring sight for a community that has grown used to seeing its landmarks lovingly restored. Subsequent coverage has emphasized that viewers will still get to see Ben, Erin Napier’s work on the hotel that caught fire, and that the series will highlight how the team and the town responded rather than pretending the disaster never happened.
Where the hotel spinoff fits in the growing “Home Town” universe
Even as the hotel project has faced its worst-case scenario, the broader “Home Town” franchise has continued to expand. Erin and Ben Napier are already set to kick off 2026 with a new season of Home Town, with the long-running HGTV home renovation show returning for its 10th season early in the year. That milestone underscores how deeply the couple’s vision of small-town revitalization has resonated with viewers, and it provides a stable backdrop for the more experimental hotel spinoff. The flagship series can continue to deliver the familiar rhythm of house makeovers in Laurel while the new project explores a single property in far greater depth.
The hotel series also sits alongside another expansion of the brand, the previously announced Home Town: Inn This Together. That show, announced back in August, will see Erin and Ben “join forces with their family and friends” to transform an inn, further blurring the line between their on-screen projects and the real hospitality landscape in Laurel. Taken together, the main series, the inn-focused spinoff, and the fire-struck hotel project show a couple leaning into a full ecosystem of small-town experiences, even as they navigate the harsh reminder that bricks and mortar are vulnerable in ways that television edits are not.
Why the setback may reshape the story, not end it
For viewers, the most striking part of this saga may be how openly the Napiers and their collaborators have allowed the fire to become part of the story. Instead of quietly shelving the footage or pivoting to a different property, they have chosen to document the loss and the rebuild, effectively turning a behind-the-scenes disaster into the emotional spine of the spinoff. Coverage of the project has emphasized that, while the hotel did not open as originally planned, the series will showcase resilience and the determination to keep going after a crushing blow. That choice aligns with the ethos that has always underpinned “Home Town”: the idea that places can come back from neglect, damage, or bad luck if people are willing to invest in them again.
There is also a sense that the tragedy has deepened the bond between the hosts and their audience. Fans who first learned about the fire through Erin’s heartfelt posts and later updates from Ben have watched the couple move from shock to resolve in real time. One report on the spinoff notes how Erin shared the news in a way that made clear how personally she took the loss, while another highlights how their friends, the hotel’s owners, have continued to push forward despite the setback. In that light, the “devastating” fire looks less like an endpoint and more like a hard pivot, one that will likely make the eventual premiere of the hotel spinoff feel less like just another HGTV launch and more like the culmination of a story viewers have already lived through alongside the people on screen.
For now, what is confirmed is both sobering and hopeful: the fire at The Heirloom was a severe blow to a flagship project, it left close friends of the Napiers facing the loss of “their baby,” and it forced the “Home Town” team to rethink an entire series in the middle of production. Yet Ben has been clear that the episodes will air in 2026, the crew has rallied around the mantra of “Keep Building,” and the broader “Home Town” universe continues to grow with a 10th season and additional spinoffs on the way. The setback has changed the story the hotel series will tell, but it has not silenced it.
