Summary
Something is coming for the Doctor, and it isn’t the Daleks or the Cybermen. If the current showrunner ofDoctor Whois to be believed, the future isn’t looking too bright for the venerable sci-fi series.
At this point in time, it would be a massive understatement to sayDoctor Whois a bona fide pop culture phenomenon.Since first airing way back in 1963,Doctor Whohas become something of a genuine science fiction institution. Nearly 900 television episodes have aired over the decades, and that’s just from the mainline series. The so-called “Whoniverse” is quite expansive, consisting of numerous spin-off shows likeTorchwoodandThe Sarah Jane Adventures. Throw in feature films, a television film, stage shows, various aftershows, video games, comic books, audio plays, novels, podcasts, and more… and you begin to see the full picture. The entirety of theDoctor Whofranchise is almost awe-inspiring. Its unending popularity and influence know almost no bounds. Well, as they say, all good things must come to an end eventually.
Russell T Davies creates production diaries forDoctor Who Magazine,and the latest issue of the publication included a bit of a whopper from the showrunner. When writing about the show following the finale of the latest season, he elaborated (viaDeadline):“We don’t know what’s happening yet, and while everyone works that out, I’ll take a pause on this page.” If the man running the show doesn’t know if the show even has an immediate future, that seems to be a big problem.
“Hopefully, we’ll have news soon.”
Doctor Who’s Showrunner Doesn’t Know If The Show Has An Immediate Future
The latest season (or series) of the show was the fifteenth sinceDoctor Whowas rebooted back in 2005. It was also the second season to exclusively air on Disney+ in the United States. The show used to air on BBC America for years, but that ended when Disney stepped in. Unfortunately for the Mouse House, the BBC, and everyone working on the show in general,this season’s ratings didn’t exactly set the house on fire. Well, actually, maybe they did.
It’s unsurprising thatDoctor Whois an expensive show to produce. It is a science fiction show about an essentially eternal alien who can go anywhere in space and time. As such, the series' scope is limitless. Pretty much anything can happen, and it often does. To realistically pull this off, high production budgets are necessary, and those budgets are only justifiable if people are watching.If ratings are on the decline (and they are), then the people in charge of funds are going to start asking questions.
Even ifDoctor Whotakes a sabbatical, there is just no way it is gone for good. Not only is the latest spin-off,The War Between the Land and the Sea, set to debut this year, but theDoctor Who: Worlds Apartcard game is still ongoing, new audio plays are in the works, and comic books from Titan Comics surrounding various Doctors are ongoing as well. Also,Doctor Whowould undoubtedly return in some form or fashion at some point down the line. After all, regeneration is the Doctor’s thing, isn’t it?
