Jeremy Clarkson revealed there were three different Stigs and all ended up with different fates

The Stig was created by Jeremy Clarkson and Andy Wilman, co-creator and executive producer of both Top Gear and The Grand Tour.

The character was portrayed by three drivers, with occasional stand-ins.

All three drivers ended up with different fates.

And, for a very important reason, there’s probably never going to be another Stig.

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How the character came to be

The Stig’s character was created by Jeremy Clarkson.

The idea was to have a mysterious racing driver who’d never speak, and would never appear without his helmet.

The first Stig – portrayed by Perry McCarthy – was sometimes referred to as ‘Black Stig’ because of the driver’s all-black overalls with a black helmet, black shoes, and black suit.

The reason why McCarthy left was never clarified, but it gave the BBC the opportunity to rebrand The Stig, giving it new overalls and, more importantly, a much bigger role on the show.

The new Stig was portrayed by Ben Collins, pictured below, easily the most popular and recognizable Stig, who left the show in 2010 after revealing his identity in an autobiographical book.

The BBC replaced him with Phil Keen, who kept working on Top Gear until the show was canceled.

What happened to The Stig after Jeremy Clarkson left

When Clarkson, Hammond, and May left Top Gear for The Grand Tour, they couldn’t take The Stig with them as the BBC retained exclusive rights to the character along with several other components of the show.

From ‘The News’ to their used car ‘Challenges’, Clarkson and the production team had to rethink everything because of various non-compete clauses with Top Gear in their contracts.

For The Grand Tour, The Stig was initially replaced with racing driver Mike Skinner, who, like The Stig, portrayed a character on screen called ‘The American’.

Skinner himself was then succeeded by English racing driver Abbie Eaton in Season 2.

They then decided to do away with an in-house test driver as the show transitioned to a new format with longer films and no studio.

As for The Stig, he remained part of Top Gear – albeit with a less prominent role – until the show got canned.

And that’s why we’re probably never going to see The Stig again.

The BBC still owns the rights to the character, and a Top Gear reboot is not on the cards.

At least for now.