Doctor Who’s future has been a hotly contested topic in recent days with rumors swirling about Ncuti Gatwa and Russell T. Davies potentially leaving the show. Now it’s being reported that there will be a pause in production until 2027, but all of next season is nearly written already.
The internet is more abuzz with speculation about what’s going to happen with Doctor Who next than the current iteration of the show. With all markers pointing to the Disney+ era being dead because of low ratings, fans have abandoned any talk about the current plotlines even as there are three episodes left to go before it fully goes off the air.
It feels like this season of Doctor Who is the equivalent of a “lame duck presidency” where nothing’s going to get accomplished because elections are around the corner, and what’s been on fans’ minds is how to right the ship from what’s been an objective disaster for the show.
The first season of the Disney+ era was mired with extreme leftist identity politics, as a tone-deaf Russell T. Davies has prioritized his ham-fisted D.E.I. agenda over the show itself, stating “trans rights” are far more important to him than Doctor Who at San Diego Comic-Con in 2024.
This latest season has seemed even more reactionary, with many of the plot points being attacks on critics and fans who don’t like the direction he’s taken the show. It’s made it easy for people to tune out as there isn’t much to latch onto, and Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor feels nothing like the Doctors of the past because of his complete emasculation in the series.
While no new iteration of Doctor Who has been greenlit, we’ve had insiders report that Ncuti Gatwa’s regeneration scene was filmed and that it’s being tacked onto the end of this Disney+ run, with Gatwa no longer wanting to play The Doctor. There’s also been rumors that Russell T. Davies will be leaving the show as well.
However, The Mirror has reported that Russell T. Davies has already almost completely written a next season of the show, along with drafting stories for the season after that. None of this has been greenlit, as it’s been stated several times that they are waiting to see what happens at the end of Gatwa season 2 before making any decisions, but the Mirror’s reporting is in line with what Davies has said about planning shows into the future.
The Mirror also reports that they’re bracing for Disney to pull out and not be a part of any deal going forward, and that Disney is responsible for about £10 Million per episode in funding, but most of that budget is because they are taking the BBC standards of 2K for picture quality in imaging and upsizing it to 4K for their platform.
Their source is quoted as saying, “When Doctor Who began its partnership with Disney+, there was additional funding put in place. Doctor Who is an expensive show to make, with its effects budget taking up a significant part of the overall spend, so if Disney were to withdraw its funding, then there wouldn't be as significant an impact on production as some fans may think. The TARDIS set is still standing in Cardiff, all ready to go on new adventures.”
Their insider also said there is likely to be a big pause in the show, with no Doctor Who airing next year and that they wouldn’t be picking back up until 2027. If this is the case, it could give time for the BBC to find new talent to replace the current iteration and hopefully get the sour taste out of fans’ mouths from the current show.
However, if they do double down on keeping Davies and company, we could see another disaster in Doctor Who in the future. There’s already rumors they’re intent on casting another female Doctor, so a longer pause could be a good thing to get all of the people involved in the decision-making for the brand replaced.
What do you think of the potential pause in Doctor Who? Leave a comment and let us know.
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I wonder how much of their budget was funded by USAID...
I think the bigger question is this. Who at this point is still watching this? Doctor Who as of right now doesn't have any of the buzz that it had when the series was hot among normies in the reboot, merch sales are down for it. Are there millions of people who just have this playing randomly in the background like rando star wars shows as nothing more than background noise because they can't stand being in silence?
I mean most of the audience ain't coming back for what was once a fun imaginative family show for Socialist trickle treats. The only way this would be right sized would have to be an entire flushing of everybody on staff for the current seasons of doctor who and throwing out all of the seasons of Chibnall and onward. But that will never happen if there was or wasn't a pause for the show knowing how the BBC operates.