Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies has admitted that he’s still uncertain about the future of the beloved sci-fi show following the conclusion of the latest season.
Ncuti Gatwa departed as the titular Doctor after season 15 came to an end last month. In a shock reveal, he was seemingly replaced by the returning Billie Piper, however, it is yet to be officially announced what character she will play.
The BBC has yet to confirm if Doctor Who has been renewed, with questions remaining over the show’s co-production deal with Disney+, which streams the series in the US.
In a production diary for the latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine, Davies announced a pause to the page as he awaits news.
The 62-year-old wrote: “We don’t know what’s happening yet, and while everyone works that out, I’ll take a pause on this page… Hopefully, we’ll have news soon,”
Deadline quotes a source from the show as saying: “This letter is a production notes diary for when the show is in production, or on air, and as Russell has stated within the piece, it is a pause.”
The news comes as new ratings show that overall viewership was down for the latest season, which averaged around 3.2 million viewers across the eight episodes, which is half a million fewer than the previous season, as per Deadline.
Davies previously addressed the future of the show in an interview with Radio Times in April.
“There's no decision until after season two,” said Davies, a month before the latest series was due to come o an end.
“It’s funny, because even people who work on the show think that means we’re having secret meetings about it. People I work with every year say, ‘What's really happening?’ and I'm going, ‘Nothing! No meetings, nothing.’
"That's when the decision is – and the decision won't even be made by the people we work with at Disney+, it'll be made by someone in a big office somewhere. So literally nothing is happening, no decision."
Gatwa was the Doctor for just two seasons, but in a behind-the-scenes clip released on YouTube, the actor revealed that a short tenure was always the plan.
According to the star, this was “because it’s a role that demands a lot of you, physically and emotionally and mentally”.
Speaking on the companion show Doctor Who: Unleashed, the Sex Education star added: “You know it’s gonna happen when you get cast. You’re like, ‘I’m gonna have to hand this baton over one time, it’s all gonna come to an end soon.’ So I feel like I’ve been in constant preparation for that.”
Gatwa, 32, called his exit from the show “bittersweet”, stating: “I can imagine it’s been for all Doctors. Just looking at the console before regenerating was like, ‘My god, this console – it’s been here for 60 years. And I was here for some of those years. And how magic.’”
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