A Timeline of KATSEYE's Two Hiatuses, and Why Sophia Is Coming Back First

KATSEYE built its identity as a six-member group from the moment it formed out of The Debut: Dream Academy in 2023, but for most of 2026, the lineup on stage has told a different story. Two members have been on separate, overlapping hiatuses for months, and the group now has a partial answer for when one of them comes back.

Manon Bannerman was the first to step away, with her label confirming on February 20 that she would take a temporary hiatus to focus on her health, without offering a timeline for her return. The announcement came days after KATSEYE's Grammy-nominated Tonight Show appearance, and it meant Manon would go on to miss the group's entire spring-through-summer run of festival dates, including its long-awaited Coachella debut in April.

The months that followed didn't bring much more clarity. Manon posted periodic updates thanking fans for their patience, removed KATSEYE from her Instagram bio in April before pointing to ongoing, positive conversations with the label, and marked her birthday in June with a note calling herself healthier and happier than ever. Group leader Sophia Laforteza, asked about the situation more than once over the summer, kept describing it as the group's job to give Manon space rather than push for a date, without committing to one herself.

Then, on August 7, Sophia became the second member to go on an official hiatus of her own, also citing her mental health. The timing stood out: it came after she had already missed the group's Wild Hearts documentary premiere and a late-July festival set, and only weeks after KATSEYE pulled out of Olivia Rodrigo's Daisy Chain Fields festival entirely rather than perform without a third absent member, Megan, who was recovering from a sprained ankle.

Sophia's hiatus came with a rough timeline from the start — her label said it would reassess her situation by September — and she used part of the break to release her first solo recording, a cover of INXS's "Never Tear Us Apart" for the soundtrack of DreamWorks' animated film Forgotten Island, while her mother told Vogue Philippines she'd been spending her time painting, baking, and visiting Disneyland. On October 8, her label confirmed Sophia will rejoin the group the first week of January 2027, putting her total time away at roughly five months, though she'll sit out the rest of this year's Wildworld tour and promotional schedule.

Manon's return, by contrast, still has no announced date. The open-endedness has fed a steady stream of online speculation, including renewed conversation about how Black members of girl groups — Normani in Fifth Harmony and Leigh-Anne Pinnock in Little Mix among the comparisons fans have drawn — have described feeling pressure to overperform within their own groups. Manon raised something similar herself in an interview shortly before her hiatus began, pushing back on being labeled lazy during the show that first introduced KATSEYE to the public.

For now, the group's public line hasn't changed: KATSEYE says it's still six, even while touring, releasing music, and showing up to fashion weeks as four or five.