The brand new era of Doctor Who just keeps on getting more exciting. Here we are in the sci-fi institution’s 60th anniversary year, and we’re heading towards a rebooted version of the show that’ll have a bigger budget than ever and the support of Disney Plus behind it, following a groundbreaking partnership between the BBC and the Mouse House. Now it’s being confirmed that the mainline series will be joined by multiple spinoffs.
While speaking to GQ, returning showrunner Russell T. Davies — who previously helmed the series during Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant’s tenures from 2005-10 — came clean that he has an unknown number of spinoff projects already in the works. In the process, Davies promised that the Whoniverse, as it’s known, is about to enter “its next stage,” one perhaps more ambitious than any we’ve seen before.
“So I thought – with no criticism whatsoever towards the people who were running it at the time, because they were running it within the BBC’s measures – it was time for the next stage for Doctor Who,” Davies explained, when discussing why he decided to make his grand comeback. He continued:
“I thought the streaming platforms are ready, the spin-offs are ready; I always believed in spin-offs when I was there. I did Torchwood as a spin-off, The Sarah Jane Adventures as a spin-off. Those spin-offs declined when I left, and I can see why.”
Davies goes on to imply that the cash-strapped BBC was unable to continue with its expansion of the franchise after his initial departure, but it sounds like this is no longer a concern with the influx of new funds from Disney. It’s also interesting to note that Davies admits admiration for Paramount Plus’ plans to make 52 episodes of their assembled Star Trek series per year, suggesting he intends to achieve something similar with Doctor Who.
Now it’s just up to Whovians to ponder which form these spinoffs will take. We’ve got time to speculate as Doctor Who isn’t expected to return until this fall, with three specials starring Tennant’s Fourteenth Doctor, ahead of Ncuti Gatwa’s arrival as the Fifteenth.
