Default themes are often updated in unison with WordPress releases, but there is nothing preventing them from being updated on their own. Since a WordPress 5.6.1 fast-follow was ruled out, it was deemed preferable to fix these bugs in Twenty Twenty-One independent of a release of WordPress itself before the end of 2020.

In version 5.5, WordPress will see several changes aimed at maintaining a welcoming environment for all contributors while improving the clarity and inclusivity of the codebase. This is a separate but related effort to a recent proposal to update the default branches for all of the project’s GIT repositories.