Doctor Who Season 13 Production Start Suggests Another Long Gap

Doctor Who season 12 is now building to its climax, with just three episodes left to go, and fans’ thoughts are turning to the future and when they can expect to see season 13.

Over the past few years, viewers have had to learn to be patient between each run. Season 11 aired in late 2018, for example, and season 12 only arrived this year. Unfortunately, it sounds like we’re in for another 18 month or so wait when it comes to the next run.

The Gallifrey One convention has been taking place in Los Angeles this weekend and, thanks to attendees of the event, we know that producer Tracie Simpson confirmed that the next season will start filming in September, following pre-production kicking off in June.

We had a fantastic time at the Tales From The Backlot panel with @DoctoroftheDead, and learned a lot about #DoctorWho production – including the news that they're set to start filming in September! #gally1 pic.twitter.com/YxptC6DdBI

— ATB Publishing (@ATBPublishing) February 15, 2020

Typically, a Doctor Who season – which nowadays consists of 10 episodes plus an additional special – takes roughly 9-10 months to shoot. Add on a couple of months for post-production and then it’s clear that season 13 won’t hit our screens until fall 2021 at the very earliest. This fits the alternating scheduling of the Chibnall era. As said above, season 11 aired in the autumn, too. So presumably, we can predict that season 14 would then arrive in early 2023.

The good news is that a special was likely filmed alongside season 12 that will no doubt air around New Year 2021. It’s not a full batch of episodes, but an hour-long special in the middle of this long stretch should help keep us going.

Judging by set photos, the Daleks will feature in this installment. It was previously assumed the villains would appear in the season 12 finale, but now we know that will involve the Cybermen instead. Which must mean the Daleks return in the extra episode.

Doctor Who continues tonight with episode 12×08 “The Haunting of Villa Diodati.”