Russell T. Davies Admits Doctor Who Not Picked Up For Season 3 And Calls The Disney-Produced Run "A Lovely Experiment"

Fans have been saying Doctor Who is unlikely to return for a third series under the helm of showrunner Rusell T. Davies and actor Ncuti Gatwa. Now, Davies continues to warn that the show is in danger of cancelation and is once again casting doubt on the possibility of the sci-fi show returning after the second season airs.

When Russell T. Davies came back as showrunner of the BBC sci-fi program, he immediately took a hard pivot to identity politics. The 60^th Anniversary Specials pushed a transgender “Rose” and featured Donna Noble lecturing David Tennant on being a “male-presenting Time Lord” in some of the cringiest dialogue to date. It only became worse as they intentionally cast an Indian actor as Sir Isaac Newton, a historical figure who was clearly not Indian—to provoke racial division.

This was done ahead of Ncuti Gatwa becoming The Doctor, which began a cynical marketing campaign stoking more racial divisions as Gatwa leaned into being black and LGBTQ. At one point, he challenged people not to watch the show and “touch grass,” which prompted a mass exodus from viewership, leading to a season with the lowest ratings of Doctor Who ever.

Doctor Who failed to chart in the top 10 for its premiere, a disastrous opening for the show. While we won’t have more recent episode numbers for weeks, not even charting can’t bode well for how it’s performing in the Disney+ era.

Back in June, after the premiere of the episode where the Doctor Turns gay in “Rogue,” showrunner Russell T. Davies confirmed that Doctor Who hasn’t been picked up for a Season 3, despite Bad Wolf telling Fandom Pulse that Ncuti Gatwa is contracted through 2029. “That’s still up in the air,” he said in an interview.

There was also a strange situation this summer where Ncuti Gatwa went on the Graham Norton show to say that they were working on a third season, and that segment got deleted by the BBC before it aired.

Now, ahead of the Christmas Special, which has already generated fan calls for the show’s cancelation, Russell T. Davies is once again telling the media his reign of identity politics terror on Doctor Who might be over.

On BBC Today, Russell T. Davies said in response to a question about the show continuing, “Oh, I don’t know. I’m loving it. We don’t know if there’s a third series yet. This [Series Two] will go out in the summer and then they’ll decide it. The BBC will decide, as well, its future. But I’m happy to stay with it. I love it. It’s more fun than anything else.”

Much of the decision doesn’t lie with the BBC proper, but with Disney, as the mega-corporation has a contract to produce Doctor Who for two series of eight episodes and two Christmas Specials, along with five episodes of the U.N.I.T. spinoff show, The War Between The Land And The Sea.

Davies also talked to the BBC about the production logistics, “The BBC made a move to go to a streamer. It’s still on BBC One here. It’s still on the iPlayer. It’s just the rest of the world it goes out on Disney+. And the BBC thought, and they went to me, because they thought that the show deserved to look as good as Stranger Things, as the Star Wars shows. Why should we be the humble little show being made in a shoe cupboard? And I think that’s the way everything is heading. Let’s face it, every single drama you ever watch on television has had American money or co-production money in it for about 25 years. So, this is actually nothing new. This is just the next step. And it’s a lovely experiment. We’ve had a great time. And think we’ve made shows that really show that off and we show Britain at its best as well. British crews, entirely British crews, entirely British writers and directors. It shows us off worldwide!”

The experiment doesn’t seem to be working with fans whatsoever as it goes along. There have been many rumors that Disney executives are not happy with the ratings on the show, especially given the amount Doctor Who costs to make. As this press tour continues, it appears as if Davies and company won’t be able to push their political agenda masquerading as Doctor Who for much longer.

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