Heidi Klum Will Return to Project Runway After 8-Year Hiatus

Project Runway is back — and so is Heidi Klum.

Us Weekly can confirm that the 51-year-old model will be returning to her roots as the show’s host for the first time in eight years. (People was first to report the news on Friday, January 3.)

Klum previously hosted the reality competition show alongside Tim Gunn from the show’s inception in 2004 before stepping away from the series in 2017.

Project Runway premiered on Bravo in 2004, where the hit show lived for the first five seasons. The show moved to Lifetime until 2017, when Bravo picked the series back up once again. The most recent season of the show aired in 2023 as an “All Star” season that crowned winner Bishme Cromartie.

After a year with no new Project Runway episodes, it was announced in November 2024 that the fan-favorite series had moved to Freeform for the forthcoming 21st season. The network announced that a 10-episode season was set to premiere this year to “refresh one of television’s most successful reality competition series, making more dreams for aspiring fashion designers come true,” according to a press release.

The show follows a group of budding fashion designers as they compete against each other in weekly challenges. After completing their looks, the designers dress models who help them showcase their weekly creations on a runway for a panel of judges, who have yet to be announced.

The most recent crop of Project Runway judges included Nina Garcia, designer Brandon Maxwell, and former editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue Elaine Welteroth. (Karlie Kloss hosted the show with Project Runway winner and designer Christian Siriano acting as a mentor for contestants.)

“I can see how they are going to change it, because it needed some change. After 16 seasons, it was becoming stale. I’m excited to see how it will progress,” Klum told People in October 2018 of the show’s new cast. “I’m looking forward to how they make the show their own!”

Klum’s return to Project Runway comes years after she and Gunn, 71, left the show for Prime Video’s Making the Cut.

“We wanted to do a show that’s not just for the audience to see, but also to shop and to have and to go into the real world,” Klum told Variety in 2020, when comparing the two competition series. “That is something that we were never able to do and it’s one of the most important components. … This is no longer a sewing competition. We’re looking for a great brand, so they have to have a business mindset along with their creativity.”

Klum starred alongside Gunn in Making the Cut on Prime Video for three seasons from 2020 to 2022.