Stanley Tucci's next food-travel series will trade Italy for the United Kingdom, where the actor has lived for nearly 15 years and where he is currently filming the new season. Tucci broke the news himself, telling Variety's Awards Circuit Podcast that the move makes geographic and personal sense: the UK is home, and he believes the food scene there deserves the same region-by-region treatment he gave Italy (Variety).

The shift comes as National Geographic is already spinning off the franchise with a separate series titled Tucci in Great Britain, announced in June 2026 (The Hollywood Reporter). Tucci's podcast comments confirm that the next season of the flagship show itself is also relocating to British soil.

For Tucci, the Italian journey started long before cameras rolled. He told Variety he conceived the idea of travelling through Italy and breaking it down by region roughly 20 years ago. When CNN approached him about six or seven years ago asking if he had ideas for a show, the regional-Italy concept was the one that stuck. Two other pitches — one about refugees and food, another about cancer treatments — were not picked up.

The Italian series has been an awards magnet. Tucci won three Emmys for CNN's Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy, the predecessor programme. Its Nat Geo successor, Tucci in Italy — a production of National Geographic and BBC Studios, with Tucci and Lottie Birmingham as executive producers — has earned two Emmy nominations, including one this year for outstanding hosted nonfiction series or special, recognising Tucci as both host and executive producer (Variety).

The current season, whose first-look trailer National Geographic unveiled on 14 April 2026, follows Tucci through Italy's markets, kitchens and family recipes (Disney Press; National Geographic). An episode on Tuscany was among the Emmy-recognised instalments (Variety). Tucci also singled out Le Marche, a region he called beautiful and right next to Tuscany, notable for being one corner of Italy not packed with tourists.

His argument for the UK is straightforward. He told Variety that London was voted the best food destination in the world — a claim he did not attribute to a specific poll, but one he clearly intends to explore on screen. After nearly 15 years as a London resident, Tucci is well placed to make the case.

Beyond the kitchen, Tucci remains busy on screen. He appears in this year's The Devil Wears Prada 2, reprising his role from the 2006 original. He also spoke at National Geographic's FYC screening — a For Your Consideration event aimed at awards voters — at the Linwood Dunn Theater in Los Angeles on 2 May 2026, after attending the series premiere in New York on 28 April 2025 (Variety; Variety).

For viewers, the next season's relocation means a new map. Tucci's Italy chapters are not over — the franchise lives on — but the table is being set somewhere closer to home.