Lindsey Buckingham has admitted he would return to Fleetwood Mac “in a heartbeat” if given the chance.

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In a new interview with Conan O’Brien for SiriusXM, the ex-Fleetwood Mac guitarist makes the admission that he would return to the group, despite conflicting comments from other bandmates stating that Buckingham’s exit in 2018 was permanent.

“In a heartbeat, absolutely,” says Buckingham (via Far Out). “If there’s more to come [from Fleetwood Mac], if there’s a way to heal that, that would be great. It would be very appropriate to close on a more circular note.”

This comes after Buckingham was replaced by Mike Campbell and Neil Finn, something he tells O’Brien happened out of “weakness” and “disrespected the legacy we built”.

“Because we’d been through 45 years almost of really some very difficult moments, some very difficult years, and we’d come back around,” he continues. “Like I say, that’s our legacy. So to some degree, to go out and do something more generic was not honouring our legacy.”

The future of Fleetwood Mac seems uncertain, especially after the death of core member Christine McVie in 2022. The singer and keyboardist died aged 79 following a sudden stroke. It was later revealed that she had been diagnosed with “metastatic malignancy of unknown primary origin”, meaning cancer cells had been detected in her body.

Big thanks to @TeamCoco and @SIRIUSXM for having me on the 'Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend' podcast! 🎙️ Had a blast sharing stories and music.

You can catch the episode now on the SiriusXM app. Tune in and enjoy! pic.twitter.com/SdEt6w9Tn0

— Lindsey Buckingham (@LBuckingham) January 24, 2024

During the interview, Buckingham goes on to discuss his exit from the iconic group.

“Without pointing any fingers, it was certainly fairly singular in how it was driven,” he says. “Others in the band were not happy with what was going on at that point.

“I think everyone would have liked to see me remain, but did what they felt they had to do in that moment. And that’s understandable. There’s no fingers to point at anyone, really. That’s rock and roll, right?

“I was in the band for almost 45 years and we were always – this is always part of our legacy – we were always able to work out our differences over things of which were far more profound than any issues that happened in 2018 with me departing the band.”