The album was released on 20 January 2017 on CD, CD/DVD, LP and as a digital download by Virgin EMI Records. The CD/DVD-Audio set contains a 5.1 surround sound mix of the album.

Oldfield has played with the idea of creating a sequel to Ommadawn in the past; "Amarok was originally going to be Ommadawn II, but it went off a little in its own direction."

On 16 October 2015, Oldfield stated on Twitter, "I am continuing to work on ideas for "A New Ommadawn" for the last week or so to see if [...] the idea actually works." On 8 May 2016, Oldfield stated on his Facebook group page that the new Ommadawn project with the tentative title of Return to Ommadawn is finished, and he is awaiting a release date from the record company.

On 7 December 2016, Oldfield revealed in a Facebook post that the release date was to be 20 January 2017. A 30-second preview was included in this Facebook post, and a 3-minute "radio exclusive single version" was played on BBC Radio 2.

Return to Ommadawn is the first album since Incantations (1978) that follows the format of having one track per side of vinyl simply titled "Part one", "Part two" etc.

The album received generally favorable reviews by media and critics, and the music was praised for its back-to-the-roots style.

All instruments played by Mike Oldfield. Instrument list as stated in the original 2017 release:

Stringed instruments:

Keyboards:

Percussion:

Other:

Amplifiers:

...
Wikipedia