2009–2022: Hiatus and return
After Thunder's breakup, Morley formed The Union with former Winterville frontman Peter Shoulder, while Childs also joined on bass. The band released their self-titled debut album in August 2010, which debuted at number 77 on the UK Albums Chart. Subsequent albums Siren's Song (2011) and The World Is Yours (2013) each charted in the UK top 100. Bowes and James featured on former Bad Company guitarist Dave "Bucket" Colwell's debut solo album Guitars, Beers & Tears (credited to "Bucket & Co.") – James performed drums on the whole album, while Bowes performed vocals on the song "Life". James also continued to record and tour with Magnum, who released the studio album The Visitation in 2011 which reached number 55 on the UK Albums Chart.
In February 2011, it was announced that Thunder would reunite for a performance at the High Voltage Festival on 24 July, although Bowes made it clear that "there's no plan to do any other recording going forwards", while Morley reiterated that it was a "one-off reunion". Following the festival, however, the band announced that they would perform another show on 21 December at Rock City in Nottingham, while Bowes and Matthews would also perform a short run of six "intimate sit down shows" the following February. A second show at Rock City was later added the day after the first. Both shows were documented on the live albums Rock City 12: The Baubles Are Back in Town and The Xmas Show 2011, released in 2012. Another pair of shows in December followed a year later, this time at the Manchester Academy, with the band committing to annual Christmas shows in the future. The band supported Journey and Whitesnake on tour in May 2013, as well as performing at a number of summer festivals.
In May 2014, Thunder announced that they were due to record their first studio album since 2008. A statement released by a spokesperson for the band stated that "after what has been a rather silly amount of knob-twiddling and string-pulling, I'm happy to report that they've decided to record a new studio album". Responding to the question over the band's "change of heart" regarding the possibility of new material, Bowes commented that they decided to record a new album after receiving an "overwhelming response" from fans when they supported Journey and Whitesnake the previous year. Sessions for the album took place at Rockfield Studios in Wales, with Morley producing the record. Much of the album was recorded without the involvement of Matthews, who was going through treatment for throat cancer at the time. Wonder Days was released in February 2015, and became the first Thunder album to reach the UK Albums Chart top ten since 1995's Behind Closed Doors, when it peaked at number 9. The album was voted the 11th best of 2015 by Classic Rock magazine, while the publication ranked the title track as the fifth best song of the year. Thunder were also named Best British Band at Planet Rock's end-of-year awards.
The band toured extensively in promotion of Wonder Days, including three UK arena shows in March alongside Reef and Tax the Heat, numerous festival appearances in the summer, a run of European shows in November (including one of the first in Paris, France following the November 2015 attacks), and five arena shows with Terrorvision and King King in February 2016.
Later in the year, the group released their first career-retrospective book Giving the Game Away: The Thunder Story, written by Joel McIver. The book was launched at the Louder Than Words Festival in Manchester on 12 November 2016, where the band performed a short acoustic set and spoke with McIver live.
The follow-up to Wonder Days was announced in December to be Rip It Up, which would be released the following February and supported by a UK tour starting in March. The album reached number 3 on the UK Albums Chart, marking the highest position achieved by the band since Laughing on Judgement Day reached number 2 in 1992. Thunder performed their first shows ever in Australia shortly after the album's release, before returning to Europe in April for a string of dates.
On 1 December 2017 the band released the single "Christmas Day", including a re-recorded version of "Love Walked In" and acoustic recordings of "Low Life in High Places" and "Heartbreak Hurricane".
In October 2018, the band announced a new album with UK tour dates scheduled for February. Please Remain Seated was released through new label BMG on 18 January 2019, with "twelve radically reworked re-recordings of songs from their 30 year career" and has been described as "a more quiet album, taking in influences from rock, blues, country, jazz and soul".
As of October 2022, the band's latest album is Dopamine, which contains sixteen songs and constitutes the group's first double-album. The first single goes by the title "The Western Sky". Music website Blabbermouth.net praised the song as featuring Thunder sounding "as immediate as ever" while also labeling "The Western Sky" as a "razor-sharp, riff-driven track". The related music video, which focuses on motorcycle touring among various isolated landscapes, made its YouTube debut on 17 February 2022.
