It’s been nearly a year since Paige Turley and Finn Tapp walked out of the Love Island villa as the winners of the inaugural winter series – and we don’t need to tell you that a lot has happened in the world since. 

Having remained off air throughout the pandemic, it’s fair to say many fans of the ITV2 reality show are suffering serious Love Island withdrawals – but there appear to be a few glimmers of hope suggesting that it will return to cheer us all up in 2021.

Following a number of whispers and rumours about the future of Love Island, here’s everything we can tell you about the current state of play…

Remind me, what happened with last year’s series?

Following the huge success of the 2019 run, ITV2 commissioned Love Island for two series in 2020. 

The first aired as planned in January and February of last year, with the winter version coming from a brand new villa in Cape Town in South Africa. 

However, shortly after the series’ conclusion, the coronavirus pandemic took hold across the world, with many TV and film productions shutting down production. 

Rumours swirled about delaying Love Island’s summer run until later in the year, as well as potentially moving it to a UK location.

But despite ITV’s hopes for it to go ahead, the broadcaster officially pulled the plug on it in May – just a month before the show would usually be starting. 

At the time, ITV promised Love Island would be back “stronger than ever” in early 2021, but just over a month later, the broadcaster took the decision to call off the winter series too.

So what was the plan for Love Island 2021 supposed to be?

After announcing that the planned January series would not be going ahead, ITV said in a statement that Love Island would return “bigger and better than ever” with an “extended run” this summer. 

The first winter edition had been cut from eight weeks to six in lieu of two series airing, so it is likely ITV had been planning to bump the summer run back up to at least eight weeks. 

Where are we at now then?

Well, back when ITV called off the winter series, we were in a very different stage of the pandemic to where we are now. 

As it stands, TV production is still having to operate within strict Covid guidelines, while international travel is tricky, but still permitted for work purposes. 

Recent reports have suggested that bosses are ploughing ahead with preparation for the new series, which is likely returning to its home in Mallorca in Spain, as had initially been planned for 2020. 

According to the Daily Star, it will air a month later than usual, kicking off in July, with producers having to plan around travel restrictions.

The paper reported that execs think they will need to “fly over three times as many contestants than normal in case some of them fall ill”, with all of them having to be quarantined.

While ITV declined to offer any official comment on the situation when approached by HuffPost UK, Love Island host Laura Whitmore shared an Instagram post which hinted it will return this year. 

Posting an old clip of her walking into the villa, Laura wrote: “I think we could all do with some Love this summer…”

It would also suggest that Laura – who is currently pregnant with her first child with husband and Love Island narrator Iain Stirling – intends to return for the upcoming series, after stepping in for the late Caroline Flack in 2020. 

So realistically, will it go ahead?

Love Island USA laid the blueprint for how to produce the show in a pandemic last year.

It aired its second series over the summer, relocating from Fuji to the rooftop of a Las Vegas hotel, with all contestants quarantining prior to entering the makeshift “villa” and host Arielle Vandenburg socially distancing from others when she appeared.

However, ITV bosses previously ruled out hosting the show on home soil, with ITV’s director of television, Kevin Lygo, telling the Edinburgh TV Festival they had briefly considered it for last year before deciding that “making it in the UK would not be the same show”.

Therefore a return to Spain seems like the most feasible option, but it will mean many more logistical challenges – and likely an increased budget – to fly contestants out and quarantine them. 

It will also be tricker production-wise too, as many members of the team normally stay out in Spain for the entire run. But the last series of I’m A Celebrity saw many of the crew working from home in England, despite the show being filmed in Wales, so Love Island might be able to operate in a similar way. 

Despite all the challenges in their way, ITV bosses will no doubt be desperate to get one of their most successful shows on air this summer – with a strong viewership among the lucrative 16-34 demographic, it’s of huge commercial value to them, after what has been a very difficult period for ad revenue in broadcasting. 

Shows like Strictly Come Dancing and Dancing On Ice have already proved that the almost seemingly impossible can happen, so don’t rule out seeing a new bunch of Islanders parade into the villa this summer just yet. 

And in the meantime, you can relive all the villa action so far on the ITV Hub, where all six series are available to binge.