Blake Shelton Left 'The Voice' in 2023 — Does He Have Plans to Return?

For a jaw-dropping 23 seasons, Blake Shelton was one of the most popular coaches on The Voice. He was a familiar face, a foundational member of the show, and someone whom people tuned in to enjoy watching.

But in 2023, he abruptly left.

So, what happened? Here's what we know about why Blake Shelton left The Voice, and what he's up to now that he has a whole new world of reality television in front of him.

The year was 2023, and Blake had just celebrated his 23rd season on the show. He was there from the very start, appearing on the show when it debuted in 2011.

Suddenly, he announced that he was leaving as a coach. In May 2023, he told Access Hollywood in an interview that he was leaving to spend more time with his family.

Specifically, his stepkids with wife Gwen Stefani.

"I think being a stepdad has changed my perspective in that I’m not the first person that I think about anymore," he explained. "Even to the small little things when you go, ‘I think I’ll do this,’ the very next thought is always, ‘Well, wait a minute. How’s that going work?' Or, 'What will they think?' Or, 'How will that affect a schedule?'" 

Blake added, "I think the only way for me to really do that right is to step away from being committed to something like The Voice that demands a lot of your time. There’s no way around it. If you’re going to do it and do it right, you have to be 150 percent in. And I just feel like those days are behind me for now. I got a more important job." 

Gwen seemed to confirm his reasons, telling Extra, "I think that Blake — I don’t know, I think he just wants more time, you know what I mean? I don’t know that people realize, if he’s doing two seasons a year, right? In between that, he’s touring. So he actually has two teams at the same time; at a certain point, they overlap. So it’s a lot of brain power, it’s a lot of time away from the family, those kinds of things. I think he just got to a point where he just wants time in his ranch, like time to just do the other things that he loves to do." 

However, it seems like there was likely another reason for his planned departure.

That reason? A new reality competition series called The Road, which Blake has been working on in conjunction with Keith Urban and Gretchen Wilson.

The search for the next big music superstar kicks off on CBS on Oct. 19, 2025, per Good Housekeeping. Blake is working as both a co-executive producer and star on the series.

Between spending time with step kids and his loved ones, and starting a whole new reality television series, it's easy to understand why Blake would step away from The Voice.