After eight long years, The History Channel is thawing out one of its most legendary series: Ice Road Truckers. Fans across the country can rejoice — the fearless drivers are back for an epic 12th season, navigating the frozen hellscape of Northern Canada’s icy roads and treacherous lakes to deliver crucial supplies to isolated communities. Higher stakes, bigger risks, and massive rewards await — it’s man versus nature, chain tires on ice.
The hiatus follows the original run from 2007 to 2017, when drivers braved remote Canadian and Alaskan territories for 11 thrilling seasons. With winter shorter than ever, every haul is a race against time — and one wrong move could cost everything. “This season ventures into a new era of storytelling for the series that infuses fresh energy and new challenges while honoring its rich legacy,” says Eli Lehrer, Executive VP and Head of Programming for The History Channel. Ice Road Truckers fans, buckle up — the ice has never been colder, and the danger has never been higher.
‘Ice Road Truckers’ Returns With Old Friends and New Faces
Ice Road Truckers marks a new era as a mix of veterans and new faces embark on daring adventures, hauling vital supplies to remote locations across Canada. This season, alumni Lisa Kelly and Todd Dewey join newcomer Scooter Yuill at Muskie Creek—the top winter transportation company—where they battle the world’s toughest roads. Led by fiery operations manager Bill Danh, Muskie Creek runs on one motto: leave no load behind. But this season, the roads and the loads push these drivers, and their trucks, to the breaking point. Farther west, veteran hauler Shaun Harris, owner of Harris and Sons Transportation, along with his sons, Riley Harris and Zach Harris, push into new territory, determined to secure new business and give them the critical experience they’ll need to one day take over the company. Kelly began in Season 3, staying through Season 5. She returned in Season 7, remaining until the end of the original run. Dewey joined for Season 7 until the end of Season 11. They are the only two returning holdover stars from the show’s last season. Now, the next big question, since the show has featured different theme songs, will Season 12 introduce a new one?
In the teaser trailer for the new season, the high-octane world of ice road trucking on display once again. As Dewey says, “There’s no margin for error. It’s life and death up here.” The stakes are higher, the brakes are more brutal, and mistakes may be costly. Or even deadly. At the world’s northern edge, people and cultures cut off from civilization are briefly connected by a lifeline of roads paved with ice. This group of skilled, highly trained, and thrill-seeking truckers put their lives on the line to beat nature’s clock, battling dangerous roads, deadly frostbite, and brutal conditions to deliver life-saving supplies to remote communities. The veterans are back with no hesitation and no practice runs, while the rookies emerge, determined to prove they have what it takes to reign supreme on the ice.
How ‘Ice Road Truckers’ Became an Obsession
Even though it’s still the same great show, Season 12 is officially a new era. This season will mark the first without Alex Debogorski, a driver who had been with the series during the entirety of its original run. He was the only trucker to be featured in all 11 seasons of the show. Following his run on Ice Road Truckers, he went on to write a memoir and host Tale Lights. The remainder of the Season 11 cast featured Art Burke, Steph Custance, Reno Ward, and Mark Kohaykewych.
Even without an official cancellation, fans are ecstatic to see the series return after an eight-year hiatus. Ice Road Truckers captures the unique world in the frozen tundra in the same manner that celebrates the crabbing universe in Deadliest Catch. The individuals are ambitious and passionate about their profession. They leave nothing for the imagination. These men and women put it all on the line as their profanity-laden adventures are anything but mundane. There is inherent drama, thanks in part to the niche and challenging lifestyle. It’s a perilous job, but somebody’s got to do it! Though there haven’t been fatal outcomes, the threat of the possibility is present.
Thanks to the series, fans get a glimpse of the stunning Arctic backdrop. From Seasons 1 through 11, the truckers traversed through Yellowknife, the Tuktoyatuk Winter Road, Deadhorse, Alaska, the Dalton Highway, and Round Lake. The series even spawned a brief spin-off, IRT: Deadliest Roads, which followed some of the infamous truckers as they tackled the Himalayas and South America.
Darrell Ward, who started in Season 6 and starred through Season 10, died in a 2016 plane crash.
Ice Road Truckers returns Wednesday, October 1 at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT on History Channel.
