HGTV’s 2026 lineup: new series orders, fresh seasons, and what’s coming next
HGTV is loading its 2026 schedule with a mix of aggressive franchise expansion, splashy new concepts and carefully chosen renewals that try to balance fan service with fresh ideas. The network is leaning hard into proven brands while testing formats that stretch what a home and lifestyle channel can be, from haunted houses to wild vacation rentals.
I see a clear strategy emerging: double down on the shows that still deliver big audiences, use them to launch riskier swings, and wrap it all in event-style stunts like the HGTV Dream Home that keep the brand culturally loud even between premieres.
House Hunters goes supersized with 400 new episodes
The biggest swing in HGTV’s 2026 plan is the decision to flood the schedule with new installments of its longest running franchise. Executives are betting that viewers are not remotely tired of watching buyers agonize over granite and commute times, ordering 400 fresh episodes of the core House Hunters brand as part of a broader programming refresh. That volume is remarkable for a show that has already been on the air for more than 25 years, and it signals that HGTV still sees the series as the backbone of its primetime grid.
The expansion is not limited to the flagship. The network is also pumping new life into House Hunters spinoffs and related formats, including more episodes of House Hunters International that follow buyers abroad. Earlier announcements framed the 400-episode order as a way to refresh the franchise with new storytelling angles while still delivering the comfort-viewing beats that keep audiences coming back, and follow up coverage underscored that HGTV sees the series as a key driver of its overall 2025 and 2026 lineup.
New series bets: Property Brothers, Botched Homes and Wild Vacation Rentals
Alongside the House Hunters surge, HGTV is using 2026 to roll out a slate of new series designed to feel familiar but slightly edgier. The network has already teased a fresh Property Brothers project, positioning it as a pressure cooker twist on Drew and Jonathan Scott’s renovation empire. In parallel, HGTV has quietly assembled a batch of four new shows that will join the 2025 and 2026 schedule, using the Scott brothers’ enduring popularity as a launchpad for other concepts that can live in the same renovation universe.
The network is also leaning into more overtly high-stakes storytelling with formats that promise to fix what others got wrong. In its own preview of 2026 programming, HGTV highlighted a slate of fresh titles under a banner of HGTV Announces New Shows, including a series called Botched Homes that is explicitly about rescuing disastrous renovations. That same preview framed the 2026 slate as “More” of what fans love, pairing these new concepts with returning staples so that viewers who tune in for a familiar brand are introduced to riskier formats like Botched Homes almost by default.
The most adventurous of the new orders may be Wild Vacation Rentals, which HGTV has slotted into its 2026 slate as part of a package that adds over 30 episodes of original content. The series, described as a travel-meets-real-estate hybrid, is being positioned as the centerpiece of a push into more aspirational, getaway-focused storytelling, and the same announcement confirmed that it sits within a broader Slate With New Series that also includes key renewals.
Renewals that survived the cancellation wave
HGTV’s 2026 grid is not just about new titles, it is also about which shows survived a bruising round of cancellations. Earlier this year, the network confirmed that it had axed six fan favorites while simultaneously announcing over 100 new episodes of returning series, a move that sparked backlash but also clarified where executives see long term value. In that same update, HGTV singled out NEED to KNOW that The Flip Off, Home Town, Love It Or List It and more would return in 2026, underscoring that the network is still anchored by a handful of core personalities and formats.
Subsequent coverage of HGTV’s renewal list for 2026 reinforced that strategy, grouping these shows with other returning titles and noting that the network has continued to invest in long running franchises even as it experiments elsewhere. One breakdown of which HGTV shows are returning in 2026 framed the news as part of a larger TV landscape that also includes scripted hits like Fallout, Emily in Paris, The Voice and Saturday Night Live, a reminder that HGTV’s unscripted brands are competing for attention in the same crowded ecosystem.
Competition, castles and the rise of “wild” real estate
One of the clearest throughlines in the 2026 slate is HGTV’s embrace of competitive and high concept real estate shows that treat properties as characters in their own right. The network has already confirmed that The Flip Off will be part of its returning lineup, leaning into the drama of dueling renovation teams. That competitive streak extends to other franchises as well, with HGTV continuing to back tentpoles like Rock the Block, which pits star designers against each other in large scale build outs, and using these formats as event programming that can anchor entire nights of the schedule.
At the same time, the network is doubling down on shows that spotlight unusual or extreme properties. HGTV has renewed Zillow Gone Wild, which turns viral listings into episodic television, and confirmed that Castle Impossible will return after surviving what one report bluntly described as a cancellation “bloodbath.” HGTV’s own announcements framed these renewals as part of a package that adds over 30 Breaking News Episodes of Original Content to its 2026 Slate, and follow up coverage emphasized that HGTV is pairing those renewals with the new Wild Vacation Rentals and series to build a mini universe of “wow” properties.
The stakes around Castle Impossible in particular show how carefully HGTV is curating its lineup. One detailed recap noted that On December 16, 2025, HGTV used Instagram to confirm that Castle Impossible would be back for a second season in 2026, explicitly positioning the renewal as a bright spot amid the network’s devastating cancellations this year. That messaging, combined with the broader What To Know framing around HGTV’s 2026 renewals, makes clear that the network sees these “impossible” and “wild” properties as a defining part of its brand going forward.
Comfort-food staples: Home Town, Love It or List It and Renovation Aloha
For all the talk of castles and viral listings, HGTV’s 2026 schedule still leans heavily on comfort-viewing stalwarts that deliver steady ratings and a sense of familiarity. Home Town remains one of the network’s signature brands, and coverage of the 2025 and 2026 lineup has highlighted not only the flagship series but also spinoffs like Home Town: Inn This Together, which extends Ben and Erin Napier’s small town storytelling into hospitality. That same reporting noted that HGTV’s 2026 lineup will see more of these Mississippi based projects, framing them as a counterweight to the more high concept shows elsewhere on the schedule.
Other long running staples are getting similar treatment. HGTV has made clear that Love It or List It is not going anywhere, and recent rundowns of the 2025/2026 slate explicitly called out the show alongside Renovation Aloha as part of a cluster of returning series that will keep HGTV’s core renovation audience engaged. One preview even framed the news as a relief for fans, noting that HGTV just gave a long awaited update on Castle Impossible and confirmed more episodes of Love It or List It, List It, and Renovation Aloha, effectively bundling these shows as a comfort block.
The network is also using these staples to cross pollinate interest in newer formats. In its own 2026 programming preview, HGTV grouped returning hits under a single Announces New Shows and More umbrella, pairing them with fresh titles so that viewers who tune in for Home Town or Love It or List It are exposed to newer experiments like Botched Homes or Wild Vacation Rentals. That bundling strategy suggests HGTV understands the gravitational pull of its legacy brands and is using them as on ramps for the rest of the lineup.
Scares, stunts and the HGTV Dream Home 2026
Beyond traditional renovation and real estate, HGTV is leaning into event programming and genre twists to keep its 2026 slate feeling buzzy. One of the more unexpected renewals is HGTV’s 2026 lineup will see Dec bring back Retta for another Season of Scariest House in America, a series that blends paranormal investigation with home tour voyeurism. That renewal, tucked alongside more conventional shows in the 2025/2026 announcement, signals that HGTV is willing to color outside the lines of traditional home improvement if the concept still revolves around intriguing properties.
On the stunt side, the HGTV Dream Home remains one of the network’s most powerful annual marketing engines, and the 2026 edition is already being positioned as a centerpiece of the year. HGTV has revealed that HGTV’s 2026 Dream Home is a lakeside retreat that brings lake life to a whole new level, set on the serene Lake Wylie near Charlotte, North Carolina. A companion clip describes the property as a dreamy $2.4M lakefront retreat in Charlotte, pitched as just missing one thing, YOU, and urging viewers to Head to the profile for sweepstakes details. Those social teases, which also highlight that the Dream Home 2026 promotion starts 12/16, show how HGTV uses the Dream Home as both a content event and a cross platform engagement tool.
How HGTV is positioning itself in a crowded 2026 TV landscape
Stepping back, HGTV’s 2026 lineup reads like a deliberate attempt to secure its place in a streaming saturated, franchise heavy TV environment. The network is not just ordering more episodes, it is clustering them into themed blocks that can compete with big budget dramas and comedies across platforms. One breakdown of the 2026 slate noted that HGTV is adding hundreds of new HGTV episodes, including the House Hunters surge, and framed the move as a way to keep the channel competitive as viewers juggle everything from prestige dramas to reality juggernauts.
That same logic shows up in how HGTV talks about its own brand. In its official refresh, the network emphasized that NEED TO KNOW HGTV is delivering both volume and variety, from House Hunters to Botched Homes to Wild Vacation Rentals. Additional coverage of the 2026 renewals reiterated that While the network has continued to experiment, it is also sticking with proven draws like House Hunters in America, which is heading into Season 7 of one of its spinoff formats. And in a separate rundown of the 2025/2026 lineup, HGTV’s parent company highlighted that the channel is adding new house hunting series alongside the existing Four new shows and hundreds of episodes, underscoring that the strategy is as much about breadth as it is about depth.
In that context, the 2026 HGTV lineup looks less like a simple list of premieres and more like a carefully layered ecosystem. There are the evergreen franchises like House Hunters, Home Town and Love It or List It, the high concept curiosities like Zillow Gone Wild and Castle Impossible, the competition formats like Rock the Block and the aspirational travel hybrids like Wild Vacation Rentals. Layered on top are genre twists such as Scariest House in America and lifestyle flavored renovations like Renovation Aloha, plus the annual spectacle of the Dream Home on Lake Wylie. Taken together, they show a network that is not trying to reinvent itself so much as stretch the definition of what “home” television can be in 2026.
