The REAL Reason Oak Island Season 13 Took a 2-Week Break (What They Don’t Want You to Know NOW!)

The curse has seemingly struck again, but this time it didn’t hit the island.
It hit the broadcast schedule. According to the History Channel’s schedule, Oak Island season 13 just went dark for two full weeks, and the question from the History Channel is unsatisfying.
Time and date confirms it is Thursday, February 19th, 2026. And for the thousands of fans who tuned in last Tuesday expecting to see the Lagginina brothers crack the money pit, there was nothing but a black screen. Coming soon reported that no new episode aired on February 17th. And next episode notes that the blackout won’t end until February 24th. This isn’t just a standard schedule shuffle. We are deep into season 13, a season that promised to be the monumental finish to a 230year mystery. Recaps from TV Insider note that just weeks ago, the team uncovered a massive boulder on lot 8 and what looked like a second money pit. Then abruptly, the show vanished from the lineup. Rumors are flying across social media with some saying the production team needs time to edit a discovery so massive it requires legal clearance.
Others fear the Canadian government stepped in with new permit blocks. In 2024, the Department of Communities, Culture, and Heritage in Nova Scotia designated the area around the Lot 5 Discoveries as a special place, drastically changing the rules for the 2025 filming season. We are tracking every lead to explain why the Fellowship of the Dig has gone quiet at the most important moment in the show’s history.
Let’s look at what the History Channel is actually saying, or rather what they aren’t saying.
Officially, the network has remained silent, offering no specific reason for the hiatus, though such breaks are common for production scheduling.
Television networks do this to avoid competing with major global events or to align their biggest finales with ratings sweeps periods. However, looking at the calendar for February 2026, the timing feels off.
According to CBS Sports, the Super Bowl has passed and there are no major global elections disrupting the airwaves this specific week. Usually, these breaks happen earlier in the month. While the main series took a break, the screen didn’t go black. A new episode of Drilling Down, titled Ground Zero, aired on February 17th.
Sources indicate that the episode titled Swamped was ready to go, which makes the delay even more suspicious. If the tape was in the can, holding it back points to a development that forced the network to reshuffle the narrative at the 11th hour. We have to consider the brutal reality of filming in the North Atlantic. Season 13 filming wrapped late in 2025, and we know that Nova Scotia was hammered by severe storms, specifically in late October and November. The production team typically edits episodes months in advance, but lastminute changes or re-shoots can still cause delays. If the editors ran out of usable footage due to a filming halt back in the fall, On the Flicks reports that this two-week gap might be a frantic catch-up period.
Rick Lagginina has mentioned in past interviews that the island dictates the schedule. If the swamp flooded or the garden shaft flooded again during those key final filming weeks, the showrunners might need this break to stitch together a coherent story from limited material.
It is a logistical nightmare that they would never admit to publicly, but it happens frequently in reality TV production. If you think the History Channel is hiding the biggest find of the century until the finale, hit subscribe and the notification bell right now. We are tracking every update on the money pit 24/7.
Now, we will examine the legal theory that’s gaining traction. This is where things get genuinely concerning for the future of the treasure hunt. In 2024, the Department of Communities, Culture, and Heritage in Nova Scotia designated the circular feature on lot 5 as a special place, a development that was revealed to viewers when season 13 aired in late 2025.
If the team found something major, like the rumored Templar vault or the $150 million horde mentioned in recent leaks, they legally cannot just dig it up and air it on TV. They have to stop and call in government archaeologists.
This process takes weeks or sometimes months.
This break could be the result of a stop work order that happened during filming, leaving a gap in the episodic content that the editors are now trying to cover up.
If the government seized footage or artifacts, the network would be legally barred from airing those specific scenes until the investigation clears. Just before the break, episode 14, titled The Shining, dropped a bombshell that changes the entire geography of the search, the team found evidence of a second money pit under the massive boulder on Lot 8. This isn’t just a new hole, but a potential original dig site that predates the 1795 discovery. The timing of the hiatus right after this reveal is incredibly telling. Viewers are speculating that this new money pit is actually the real one and the last 12 years have been focused on a decoy site.
If true, the showrunners might be frantically re-editing the rest of season 13 to pivot the entire narrative toward lot 8. You can’t just continue with the garden shaft story line if you suddenly realize the treasure is actually half a mile to the west. This twoe pause gives them the breathing room to restructure the season’s climax around this new gameending location. The return episode scheduled for February 24th is titled Swamped, which serves as a massive clue. For years, Rick has believed the swamp is man-made and hiding a sunken ship or a back door to the treasure vault. Leaks from the set suggest that late in the 2025 filming season, they finally drained the southeast corner completely and found a structure that defies explanation.
If this discovery connects directly to the American Revolution artifacts found earlier this season, the implications are staggering. The break allows the marketing team to build hype for what might be the single most important episode ever aired. They aren’t just taking a break, but preparing the audience for a reveal that requires a reset of our expectations.
The swamp has always been the wild card, and it looks like it just played its ace. We also need to talk about the human element. Rick Lagginina has been pushing himself to the physical limit for over a decade. In season 5, we saw the toll the Lyme disease scare took on him, and this year, the pressure to deliver a finale has been immense.
Sources close to the production have hinted that the pep talk Rit gave the team in November 2024 was born out of genuine exhaustion.
There was a very real possibility that the filming schedule had to be paused due to health or fatigue issues among the key cast members. These guys aren’t young anymore and they are moving heavy equipment in freezing mud.
If the rumor about Al’s unavailability cited by some news outlets is true, this break might simply be the result of the Lagginas needing to step away for a moment to recover before the final push.
It reminds us that the curse isn’t just about ghosts, but about the physical danger of the job. Finally, there is the business side of things. As of February 2026, there is still no official confirmation of a season 14. Usually, renewals are locked in by now. The twoe silence might be a leverage tactic during intense contract negotiations between the Legas and Prometheus Entertainment.
If Marty and Rick are threatening to walk away because they’ve either found the treasure or decided it’s not there, the network might be stalling the broadcast to buy time. They need to secure the brothers for another year before airing a finale that could potentially serve as a series ender. If this is the end, they want to announce it on their terms. If it’s not, they need the ink dry on the contracts before the credits roll.
This pause feels like a corporate standoff as much as a creative one. The next few episodes starting February 24th are likely the most important hours of television this show has ever produced.
If the break was for re-editing, expect a shift in focus that abandons the old money pit for lot 8 or the swamp. If the break was legal, watch for blurred faces or restricted areas in the background of shots. We are watching a show that is catching up to realtime events that are spiraling out of control. The mystery has grown bigger than just a hole in the ground as it involves governments, history books, and millions of dollars in production stakes. When the screen lights back up next Tuesday, pay close attention to what they show, and more importantly, what they don’t. The pause wasn’t an accident. It was a signal that the endgame has finally begun. The silence on Oak Island is about to break, and the next discovery could be the one that finally rewrites history.
Thanks for watching. If you want to be the first to know what happens when the show returns, make sure to subscribe and join us for the breakdown.