Usually when a season of “Doctor Who” ends, fans know when to expect The Doctor’s return. This was not the case with “Doctor Who” Series 15 (“Season 2” on Disney+), which concluded on May 31, 2025 with no news of a Series 16/Season 3 in the works. While the BBC said, “‘Doctor Who’ has not been shelved,” back in February before the most recent season aired, showrunner Russell T. Davies confirmed in June after the season ended that production is currently “on pause.”
How long this “pause” will last — whether it’s just a couple years or could last as long as when “Doctor Who” stopped making new episodes between 1989 and 2005 — is uncertain. Davies’ statements to the children’s news program “Newsround,” saying the program’s kid hosts might grow up and become writers themselves during such a “pause,” have worried fans about the show’s immediate future. However, the BBC continues to offer assurances the network remains committed to “Doctor Who,” emphasizing its popularity on BBC iPlayer even as on-air ratings declined. “The TARDIS is going nowhere,” BBC’s Kate Phillips told the Edinburgh TV Festival on August 21.
Disney invested around £10m per episode in “Doctor Who” for its 26-episode Disney+ streaming deal. Twenty-one of those episodes (3 specials with David Tennant’s 14th Doctor and 18 episodes with Ncuti Gatwa’s 15th Doctor) have aired, and the 5-episode miniseries “The War Between the Land and the Sea” is expected to cover the remainder of the deal. Future “Doctor Who” seasons might need creative rejiggering if Disney pulls out from funding.
The next Doctor Who on TV isn’t what you’re expecting
Before we get renewal or cancelation news for the main “Doctor Who” series, two spin-offs are in the works. The first is the aforementioned “The War Between the Land and the Sea,” currently scheduled to premiere in 2026. This Russell T. Davies-created spin-off focuses on UNIT, the government agency responsible for handling extraterrestrial threats in the “Doctor Who” universe, and the Sea Devils, a prehistoric species of aquatic humanoids.
Russell Tovey and Gugu Mbatha-Raw will star alongside “Doctor Who” recurring characters Kate Lethbridge-Stewart (Jemma Redgrave), Colonel Ibrahim (Alexander Devrient), and Shirley Ann Bingham (Ruth Madeley). General Austin Pierce (Colin McFarlane) is also returning from previous “Doctor Who” spin-off “Torchwood: Children of Earth,” and it looks as if this show will have a darker tone akin to “Torchwood.”
Lest you consider the possibility this gritty adult-oriented spin-off would somehow be the last word on the Whoniverse, at least one more “Doctor Who” program is in the works that’s its complete opposite. One of the most surprising pieces of news from the Annecy Animation Festival this year is that CBeebies is making an animated “Doctor Who” pre-school series. 52 11-minute episodes have been ordered and are expected to air between 2027 and 2029. No news yet on which versions of the Doctor will be used for this show.
If the show is done, it ended on a huge cliffhanger
If the series’ current “pause” turns out to be a long one, then last season’s finale, “The Reality War,” will have been quite the controversial cliffhanger to end it on. The episode ended with Ncuti Gatwa’s 15th Doctor regenerating into a new form … portrayed by Billie Piper, who played companion Rose Tyler in the first two seasons of the revived “Doctor Who.”
Gatwa’s departure from the role after two seasons makes his run as the Time Lord the shortest of any actor since Christopher Eccleston’s one-season run as the 9th Doctor. Gatwa credited the physical exhaustion of the role — “it takes a lot out of you physically, emotionally, mentally” — as his reason for leaving, though unlike Eccleston, his departure was on good terms and he’s open to returning to the show in the future.
As for Piper’s return, note that her “Introducing” credit does not list her character as “The Doctor,” and Doctor Who Magazine’s headline about her casting ended with a question mark, so whatever her role is might not be considered the official 16th Doctor but possibly something else. This being the second time (after David Tennant became the 14th Doctor) Davies has used a regeneration as an excuse to bring back one of his old favorite actors hasn’t exactly made this a popular casting decision, so fans are gonna want to know what the actual story is here.