Just a heads up that this post will spoil some of the (major!) events that happen in the “season two”/season fifteen finale of Ncuti Gatwa’s run on Doctor Who.
The last season of Doctor Who ended with a lot of significant events. It saw Ncuti Gatwa end his time as the Fifteenth Doctor and regenerate into none other than Billie Piper, who Whovians know as Rose Tyler in the series. (Whether Rose is, indeed, the Doctor or this is some other timey wimey is purposefully vague.)
The move was a surprising one, even by Who standards, and came at a point when the future of the show was uncertain. As of now, that future is still unclear. For the past two seasons, the BBC developed the show in partnership with Disney, and there is no guarantee that partnership will continue as the show has fared poorly, ratings-wise. The BBC and showrunner Russell T. Davies have said that a decision about season three would come after the finale for season two, and we’re still waiting.
In August 2025, however, BBC Content Chief Kate Phillips said (via Deadline) that the show would continue regardless of whether the partnership with Disney continues. “Rest assured, Doctor Who is going nowhere,” Phillips said at the Edinburgh TV Festival. “Disney has been a great partnership—and it continues with The War Between The Land And The Sea next year—but going forward, with or without Disney, Doctor Who will still be on the BBC… The Tardis is going nowhere.”
The show Phillips is referencing, The War Between the Land and the Sea, is a Doctor Who spinoff that’s set to come out on Disney+ sometime in 2026. The five-episode limited series will focus on an ancient species that emerges from the ocean and causes an international crisis that UNIT (and others) must mitigate.
And while no definitive statement has still been made about getting production for season three up and running, in early September, Jane Tranter, the CEO of Bad Wolf, the production company behind Doctor Who, said that Disney is obligated by to run 26 episodes. “Then, and only then, does Disney+ have to make a decision about whether or not they want to do more,” she told the Royal Television Society. “I imagine, at a time when Disney are having huge cuts themselves, and there have been slashes in program budgets, they’re looking to take their time to balance everything out and decide what they want to do.” The first two seasons under the deal were 16 episodes total, and the spinoff adds an additional five. Add in the three episodes featuring David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor and Gatwa’s two Christmas specials and we’re seemingly approaching that number.
Still, when we’ll get an update on Doctor Who’s fate remains up in the air. Two things, however, appear to be certain: Gatwa will not be returning as the Doctor, and the BBC will make sure the show continues on. Former showrunner Steven Moffat has even said that the BBC has a “national duty” to continue the series. But when, exactly, Who will return is unclear at the moment, as is who the Sixteenth Doctor will be.
