Second disbandment, reunions and upcoming final album (2017–present)
In September 2017, drummer Matt Cameron told Billboard that he and the other surviving members of Soundgarden had yet to make a decision about the future of the band following Cornell's death. He was quoted as saying, "I don't think we're ready to say anything other than ... Kim and Ben and I are certainly aware of how much our fans are hurting, and we're certainly hurting right there along with them. But we're extremely private people, and we're all still processing our grief in our own way and on our own time. But we definitely are thinking of our fans and love them very much."
In September 2018, guitarist Kim Thayil told Billboard that he and the other surviving members of Soundgarden were still unsure about the future of the band. He clarified, "We often reference rock history and we've often commented on what other bands in similar situations have done, not as a plan or anything but just commenting on how bands have handled situations like this and what bands seem to have been graceful and dignified in how they manage their future musical endeavors and how some maybe were clumsy and callous. We think about those things. We try not to go too deep into these conversations, but stuff comes up after a few beers." A month later, Cameron told Rolling Stone that the surviving members of Soundgarden "would certainly love to try to continue to do something, figure out something to do together." Bassist Ben Shepherd added, "We haven't even gotten a chance to hang out, just us three, yet. We're going through natural healing, then thinking about the natural next step."
In an October 2018 interview with Seattle Times, Thayil stated that the Soundgarden band name would be retired. He explained, "I don't know really what kind of thing is possible or what we would consider in the future. It's likely nothing. The four of us were that. There were four of us and now there's three of us, so it's just not likely that there's much to be pursued other than the catalog work at this point." Thayil also stated that while he did not rule out the possibility of working with Cameron and Shepherd in a different capacity, writing or touring under the Soundgarden banner again was unlikely: "No, I don't think that's anything we'd give reasonable consideration to at this point. When I say 'at this point,' I mean perhaps ever."
In January 2019, the remaining members of the band reunited in a tribute concert and fundraiser at the Forum in Inglewood, California, organized by Cornell's widow, Vicky Cornell. Members of Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog, Audioslave, Alice in Chains, the Melvins, Foo Fighters, and Metallica together with other notable artists performed songs from Cornell's career. Taylor Momsen, Marcus Durant, Brandi Carlile, and Taylor Hawkins contributed vocals to Soundgarden, who performed "Rusty Cage", "Flower", "Outshined", "Drawing Flies", "Loud Love", "I Awake", "The Day I Tried to Live", and "Black Hole Sun", making this their first performance since Cornell's death.
In July 2019, Thayil said in an interview with Music Radar that the surviving members of Soundgarden are trying to finish and release the album they were working on with Cornell. However, the master files of Cornell's vocal recordings are currently being withheld, and when Thayil sought permission to use these files, he was denied.
In December 2019, Cornell's widow, Vicky Cornell, sued the surviving members of Soundgarden over seven unreleased recordings Cornell made before his death in 2017, claiming "they have "shamelessly conspired to wrongfully withhold hundreds of thousands of dollars indisputably owed to Chris' widow and minor children in an unlawful attempt to strong-arm Chris' Estate into turning over certain audio recordings created by Chris before he passed away." The lawsuit stated that Cornell made the seven recordings at his personal studio in Florida in 2017, which there was never any explicit agreement that these songs were meant for Soundgarden, and that Cornell was the only owner of tracks. In February 2020, Thayil, Cameron and Shepherd demanded Vicky to hand over the unreleased recordings, claiming that they worked jointly on these final tracks with Chris and that Vicky had no right to withhold from them what they call the "final Soundgarden album." The band members pointed to interviews Chris and his bandmates made at the time confirming they were working together on what would be Soundgarden's eighth album. In March 2020, Soundgarden asked court to dismiss the lawsuit. In May 2020, Soundgarden countersued Vicky claiming that she engaged in "fraudulent inducement" by allegedly attempting to use the revenue from the January 2019 "I Am the Highway: A Tribute to Chris Cornell" concert, which was meant to go to the Chris and Vicky Cornell Foundation, for "personal purposes for herself and her family". The band dropped the benefit concert lawsuit in July 2020.
On August 10, 2020, Nile Rodgers and Merck Mercuriadis' company Hipgnosis Songs Fund acquired 100% of Chris Cornell's catalog of song rights (241 songs), including Soundgarden's catalog. Rodgers is friends with Cornell's widow.
On December 1, 2020, Thayil, Shepherd and Cameron performed as "members of Soundgarden" alongside Tad Doyle of Tad, Mike McCready and Meagan Grandallat at MoPOP Founders Award tribute to Alice in Chains.
In February 2021, Vicky Cornell filed another lawsuit claiming that the remaining members of Soundgarden had undervalued her share of the band, offering her "the villainously low figure of less than $300,000." Vicky claimed the band offered her $300,000 despite receiving a $16 million offer from another investor for the act's master recordings. Vicky said she counter-offered $12 million for the band's collective interests, equaling $4 million per surviving member, which they denied. She then offered them $21 million for the band's interests, and that offer was also rejected. Soundgarden said in a statement that the "buyout offer that was demanded by the estate has been grossly mischaracterized and we are confident that clarity will come out in court. All offers to buy out our interests have been unsolicited and rejected outright." The band also noted that they also had not had access to their social media accounts, which has resulted in "misleading and confusing our fans", leading the band to create new Twitter, Instagram and Facebook accounts under the name "Nude Dragons", an anagram for Soundgarden. On March 19, 2021, a federal judge recommended that claims the surviving band members improperly withheld "hundreds of thousands of dollars" and that the band's manager breached his duty to look after Vicky's interests be dismissed, citing lack of evidence of the band withholding royalties. On March 25, 2021, Soundgarden demanded the passwords for their social media and website. On June 15, 2021, the band got their website and social media accounts back in a temporary agreement with Vicky.
On April 17, 2023, it was officially revealed that seven final recordings with Cornell would be released after the dispute between the members and Vicky Cornell had ended. In a September 2025 interview with Billboard, Cameron confirmed that he, Thayil and Shepherd were "definitely over halfway done with" the remaining eight songs the band worked on before Cornell's death. It was announced in November 2025 that during the album's sessions, the band reunited with producer Terry Date. Thayil reiterated the album's progress in June 2026: "We're kind of fitting it in with the schedules of the individuals, the producers, engineers, Matt, Ben and myself." A month later, Thayil announced that the band is aiming to release the album in 2027, in honor of the tenth anniversary of Cornell's death.
On December 14, 2024, the surviving members of Soundgarden, along with vocalist Shaina Shepherd, performed together under the moniker Nudedragons (previously used in 2010) for a benefit show in Seattle for the Seattle Children's Hospital. The surviving members of the band were scheduled to perform the following July for the benefit concert Back to the Beginning, but did not appear due to scheduling conflicts.
On November 8, 2025, Soundgarden was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Jim Carrey. At the ceremony, the surviving members of the band were joined by original bassist Hiro Yamamoto for the first time in 36 years and performed a two-song set: Momsen and Mike McCready joined them for "Rusty Cage", while Carlile and Jerry Cantrell were the additional performers for "Black Hole Sun". Cornell's daughter Toni also performed at the ceremony, singing the band's "Fell on Black Days".
Soundgarden performed at the 2026 opening NFL game in Seattle on September 9. Momsen and McCready once again joined the band for the show. It was the second time that the band played at the NFL season opener in Seattle. The first being in 2014, after the Seahawks won their first Super Bowl against the Denver Broncos.
