After an uncertain few months, Doctor Who‘s immediate future is finally clear. The War Between the Land and the Sea airs in December 2025, then the Doctor themselves will return one year later for a Christmas special ahead of season 16 proper. Who’ll be playing the Doctor by that point and where the story goes next remain to be seen.
Doctor Who season 15’s finale, “The Reality War,” felt somewhat rough around the edges. Watching the episode back, it comes across like Ncuti Gatwa’s regeneration into Billie Piper could have been a late addition, forcing a rejig of the script and necessitating cuts to other vital storylines. And it’s one of those lost storylines that should be first on Doctor Who’s list for Christmas 2026.
Doctor Who’s 2026 Return Is Desperately Needing Susan
Susan Foreman in a TARDIS in Doctor Who season 15
Without doubt, Susan was the biggest victim of “The Reality War.” Building up to the finale, Doctor Who season 15 had seeded several Carole Ann Ford cameos depicting an older Susan wanting the Doctor to find her. As the original companion, abandoned on Earth back in the 1960s, Susan’s return was a very long time coming, and arguably the most exciting plot ahead of season 15’s finale.
Weirdly, “The Reality War” failed to mention Susan at all, her comeback seemingly curtailed as other matters took precedence. In the months since, Carole Ann Ford has confirmed her Doctor Who season 15 role was indeed shortened. She describes unused footage featuring herself and Poppy watching the Doctor from afar, which suggests Poppy maybe was intended to be the Doctor’s real daughter (and Susan’s mother?) at some point during production.
The scene may have been cut after Susan and Poppy were written as no longer being related, but removing it nonetheless resulted in a strange anticlimax to season 15’s Susan arc. More frustrating still, if the scene Ford describes was her only planned contribution to the finale, it sounds like another tease for the future rather than any sort of resolution between Susan and her grandfather.
This is where Doctor Who’s 2026 Christmas special really needs to step in. The show’s production timeline and long-term future remain unclear, and no one would blame Ford, currently in her 80s, for retiring before another Doctor Who episode ever hits screens. If Doctor Who keeps kicking the Susan can down the road, it risks leaving the story unfinished or being forced to pick up with a new actor playing a regenerated Susan, when it should really be Ford reprising her classic character.
And wouldn’t Susan reuniting with the Doctor chime nicely with the Christmas theme of family and togetherness? Doctor Who’s Christmas specials are typically standalone affairs about fake Santas or villains that happen to look slightly festive. Rather than another one of those, dedicating Doctor Who’s only release of 2026 to Susan and her relationship with the Doctor would be a gift worth waiting for on Christmas Day.
Doctor Who Can Still Continue Its Susan Arc Into Season 16
The Doctor regenerating as Billie Piper in Doctor Who
If Susan’s story was originally supposed to play out over a longer stretch of time, Doctor Who can still do that without risking an unresolved mystery should the BBC suddenly decide to put the TARDIS into a hiatus.
During Ncuti Gatwa’s two seasons on Doctor Who, we learned that the Doctor’s children have not yet been born, but the Master’s Gallifreyan genocide left all survivors unable to reproduce, thus creating a paradox. Going back to the Jodie Whittaker era, we also know the Doctor wasn’t originally from Gallifrey, raising even more questions over the protagonist’s family.
Reconnecting with Susan in the 2026 Christmas special could act as a springboard to answer those bigger points in Doctor Who season 16. Who are Susan’s parents? How can the Doctor have children? Which species do the Doctor and Susan really belong to? Doctor Who may not get around to answering everything, but at least it would give Susan closure if Russell T Davies delivers the gift everyone wants next year.
Release Date
May 11, 2024
Network
BBC One
Directors
Alex Pillai, Peter Hoar, Ben Chessell, Julie Anne Robinson, Jamie Donoughue, Amanda Brotchie, Dylan Holmes Williams
Writers
Steven Moffat, Pete McTighe, Kate Herron, Inua Ellams, Juno Dawson
Franchise(s)
Doctor Who / Whoniverse