It’s been a strange few months to be a Whovian. Since Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor dramatically left the TARDIS at the end of a newly rebooted Doctor Who‘s most recent second series, things have gone all quiet on the Gallifreyan front, with no word on the future of the show as the BBC and Disney’s deal to make the sci-fi series winds down, on Russell T. Davies’ status as showrunner, or indeed on that surprise Billie Piper regeneration. Well, today we finally have some answers.
The good news is we’re getting an RTD Doctor Who Christmas special in 2026 and the world’s longest-running sci-fi show will indeed go on. The bad news is that Disney+ won’t be sticking around after upcoming Whoniverse spin-off The War Between The Land And The Sea (which, noteworthily, has been brought forward to a ‘later this year’ release slot) to see what happens next. BBC Director of Drama Lindsay Salt said in a statement earlier today, “We’d like to thank Disney+ for being terrific global partners and collaborators over the past two seasons, and for the upcoming The War Between the Land and the Sea. The BBC remains fully committed to Doctor Who, which continues to be one of our most loved dramas, and we are delighted that Russell T Davies has agreed to write us another spectacular Christmas special for 2026. We can assure fans, the Doctor is not going anywhere, and we will be announcing plans for the next series in due course which will ensure the TARDIS remains at the heart of the BBC.”
So there we have it. Like the Doctor themself, the Beeb’s beloved show remains ever-changing, and it sounds like another regeneration for the show is afoot. Whether Billie Piper will be back for it remains to be seen, as does Russell T. Davies’ future with the show beyond the upcoming Christmas special, and — most pressingly perhaps — when a new series of the show will make its way to our screens (and in what form.) Still, amid all the uncertainty surrounding the perennially beloved series’ fate in recent months, it’s reassuring to hear that Doctor Who isn’t about to get shelved again anytime soon. Next stop: The War Between The Land And The Sea. Allons-y!