Doctor Who Showrunner Optimistic About Season 3 Renewal

Doctor Who fully embraced a new era earlier this year with a host of exciting developments. The series saw a new streaming home on Disney+, the debut of Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor, and the return of Russell T. Davies as showrunner. The upcoming season of Doctor Who, marked as Season 2 in the Disney+ era, is already in progress, with more future plans hinted at. According to SFX Magazine (via GamesRadar), Davies revealed he is actively working on storylines for the following season, although a renewal from Disney+ and the BBC may not come until we get closer to Season 2’s broadcast.

“It’s an industry decision, it’s like any business – these things take time,” Davies explained. “I think the decision will come after the transmission of season two. That’s what we’re expecting, that’s what we’ve always been heading towards.”

Doctor Who will return with a 2024 Christmas special written by former showrunner Steven Moffat. Season 2 of Doctor Who (under the Disney+ branding) has wrapped production, but an exact release date has yet to be confirmed. Both Gatwa and Gibson are slated to return for Season 2, with Varada Sethu joining as a mysterious second companion.

“It feels so much fun now,” Gatwa previously commented on getting comfortable in the role. “I’ve relaxed and [the Doctor] seems to have sunk down a little bit deeper, from my chest into my gut.”

This year’s San Diego Comic-Con brought the exciting announcement of a new Doctor Who spinoff miniseries titled The War Between the Land and the Sea. This new series sees a fearsome and ancient species emerging from the ocean, triggering an international crisis as they reveal themselves to humanity. With the entire population at risk, UNIT steps in as the land and sea wage war. Produced by Bad Wolf and BBC Studios for Disney Branded Television and BBC, The War Between the Land and the Sea features Russell Tovey (Feud, American Horror Story: NYC) and Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Surface, Loki), alongside Doctor Who veterans Jemma Redgrave as Kate Lethbridge-Stewart and Alexander Devrient as Colonel Ibrahim.

“I’m so lucky to work with such a magnificent cast,” Davies said in a press release when the series was first announced. “And this is a huge, muscular, thrilling drama which will shake The Whoniverse to its foundations. When the Doctor’s not in town, the whole of humanity is in trouble.”

The first season of Doctor Who is available to stream exclusively on Disney+.

Source: SFX Magazine, GamesRadar