EXO is officially making a comeback in early 2026, marking their first group album in years—though it won’t be a full reunion. The group was on hiatus for a long period filled with military enlistments, solo promotions, and a very public dispute between three members and their agency, SM Entertainment.
On December 8 at midnight, SM dropped the over 3-minute ‘REVERXE’ trailer for the upcoming release. The title and release date of the upcoming studio album have not been shared with fans yet. The label also dropped “REVERXE” trailer photos of the six EXO members participating in this comeback.
The label previously confirmed that the group will release their eighth studio album in the first quarter of 2026. It’s a huge moment for a fandom that has been waiting a long time, but it also arrives with some heavy context, since not all nine members are participating.
According to SM Entertainment, the comeback will move forward with a six-member lineup: Suho, Chanyeol, D.O., Kai, Sehun, and Lay. This alone is a major headline, because Lay—who has spent the last several years primarily working in China and did not participate in EXO’s 2023 album—is officially back for this project. Fans are excited for his return since he has been largely absent from Korean group activities for a long time.
Before the album arrives, EXO will meet fans face-to-face at their special year-end fan meeting, “EXO’verse.” The fan meeting is expected to feel like a warm-up—or even an emotional reset—before the group officially launches their 2026 comeback.
Fans will also get another opportunity to see the group even earlier. EXO has been confirmed for the 2025 Melon Music Awards, happening on December 20 at the Gocheok Sky Dome. With such a high-profile awards show appearance right before the comeback, it’s being viewed as a strong preview of what the group might bring in 2026.
As exciting as these announcements are, the elephant in the room is the absence of Chen, Baekhyun, and Xiumin—the members of EXO-CBX. Their ongoing legal battle with SM is the main reason they are not included in this comeback.
Their conflict dates back to June 2023, when EXO-CBX filed a lawsuit accusing SM of unfair profit distribution and refusing to provide transparent accounting. A temporary deal was reached so the group could still release their 2023 album, but relations continued to break down afterwards. Eventually, SM countersued the trio and their company INB100 last year, accusing them of not paying the 10% share of solo income that had been part of their earlier settlement.
INB100 later revealed that discussions about EXO’s 2026 comeback started around July. They claim that by early October, Chen, Baekhyun, and Xiumin had agreed to all of SM’s conditions in order to rejoin the comeback.
Despite this, SM went ahead with the announcement without them, saying that trust had been damaged and that the legal issues needed to be resolved first. Things escalated further when SM removed EXO-CBX from certain official channels, which left fans worried about the future of the trio’s relationship with the company.
This entire back-and-forth has created a difficult situation for the group and the fandom, especially because EXO has already experienced years of challenges. Their last studio album, Exist, dropped in 2023, but even that release wasn’t truly full-group—Kai was completing his military service at the time, and Lay wasn’t involved due to his commitments in China. The last EXO release to feature all active members was their 2021 special album, Don’t Fight the Feeling.
On top of that, the group spent the past several years dealing with one enlistment after another. The youngest member, Sehun, completed his military service in September, which finally cleared the way for the group to move forward. Even with the chaos around them, the members kept thriving individually. Several put out well-received solo albums and EPs in 2025, and D.O. and Suho continued to grow their acting careers.
Stay Tuned to EXO and SM Entertainment’s social media platforms as the official promotional rollout for their 8th studio album has begun with the “REVERXE” trailer.