In late 2023, Doctor Who celebrated its 60th anniversary with three specials that starred David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor rather than the Tenth incarnation he previously played from 2005 to 2010, plus the 50th anniversary special “The Day of The Doctor.” But Tennant was never set to resume leading Doctor Who for an extended period of time. “The Giggle,” the last of the 60th anniversary specials, instead saw 14 bi-generating into the Fifteenth Doctor and then retire from adventuring (so don’t expect Tennant back anytime soon, if at all). Now, Ncuti Gatwa's 15 has taken over traveling around time and space in the TARDIS, with the Christmas special “The Church on Ruby Road” marking his first full episode.
The 60th anniversary was also notable for happening as Doctor Who shifted to a new permanent, where a Disney+ subscription is required to view the show for anyone who doesn’t live in the United Kingdom. So if you’re a Doctor Who fan, make sure you’re signed up for the Mouse House’s streaming service, because the Fifteenth Doctor’s first full season is coming up, and we’re here to go over what we know about it.
When Is The New Doctor Who Season's Premiere Date?
The new season of Doctor Who will premiere May 11 on the 2024 TV schedule, with a weekly rollout of the rest of the episodes. This will the first time the show has premiered during that particular month since it was revived in 2005, and will arrive just five months after the Fifteenth Doctor was dealing with music-loving goblins in “The Church on Ruby Road.”
Is There A Trailer For Doctor Who's First Disney+ Season?
After "The Church on Ruby Road" finished airing Christmas Day 2023, a trailer for the upcoming Doctor Who season was released. While not lengthy, it features snippets of what's being packed into this next batch of episodes starring everyone's favorite Time Lord. His new companion is on display, along with other elements being discussed throughout this guide. Another Doctor Who trailer followed in late Marc.
What Is The New Doctor Who Season About?
When it comes to a serialized storyline, nothing has been revealed about the new Doctor Who season yet. That said, there are a few potential narrative options that come to mind based on what we have seen.
During Jodie Whittaker’s time on Doctor Who, the Thirteenth Doctor learned about her origins as the Timeless Child, a mysterious being from another world and had the power to regenerate. The Shobogans of Gallifrey gene-spliced this ability into their DNA to become the Time Lords, and The Timeless Child, who was raised in her younger years by Tecteun, lived through many lifetimes and served as an agent for the Division agency before having all their pre-First Doctor memories erased. The Fifteenth Doctor mentioned in “The Church on Ruby Road” that he’s adopted, so maybe more of the character’s origins will be revealed.
Additionally, along with Neil Patrick Harris’ Toymaker threatening that his “legions” were coming before he was banished from existence, the villain teased earlier in “The Giggle” that when he came to our universe, there was only one “player” he didn’t dare face: The One Who Waits. When the Fourteenth Doctor tried to press for more details, Toymaker simply shrugged and said “That’s someone else’s game.” Perhaps this entity will make itself known during the next Doctor Who season.
Ncuti Gatwa Is The Fifteenth Doctor
In May 2022, it was announced that Sex Education and Barbie actor Ncuti Gatwa had been hired to succeed Jodie Whittaker as The Doctor. At the time, it was understandably thought his character was the Fourteenth Doctor, but after “The Power of The Doctor” showed Jodie Whittaker’s 13 regenerating into David Tennant’s 14, it was clarified that Gatwa would actually be the Fifteenth Doctor.
It was 15 who had the idea to use his “prize” for defeating The Toymaker in “The Giggle” to make a duplicate TARDIS, allowing him to continue adventuring and 14 to go on the occasional jaunt. It’s been confirmed that Gatwa will stick around as the Fifteenth Doctor for at least one additional season.
Millie Gibson Will Be The Fifteenth Doctor’s Companion
In “The Church on Ruby Road,” we met Millie Gibson’s Ruby Sunday, whose birth on Christmas Eve 2004 was followed by her being abandoned at the Ruby Road Church that same night by an unidentified individual. (Her birth mother, perhaps?) In the present day, Ruby met the Fifteenth Doctor when goblins kidnapped and tried to eat an infant under the care of her adoptive mother, Carla. Not only did they rescue little Lulubelle, but 15 went back in time and stopped the goblins from devouring baby Ruby, too.
Following that experience, Ruby entered the TARDIS and officially became the Fifteenth Doctor’s new companion. Initially it was reported that Gibson would depart Doctor Who after one season, but that ended up not being the case. Not only will she stick around for the next season, she and Gatwa will be joined by Varada Sethu as a new companion.
Several Familiar Doctor Who Vets Are Returning
Other familiar characters who are attached to Doctor Who Season 14’s cast (more on that season designation later) are 60th anniversary players Jemma Redgrave’s Kate Stewart, Bonnie Langford’s Mel Bush, Yasmin Finney’s Rose Noble and Alexander Devrient's Christopher Ibrahim.
Finney appeared in “The Star Beast” and “The Giggle,” and the other three only appeared in the latter episode, but Redgrave and Bush go way back with this show. Redgrave debuted as Kate (the head of UNIT) in Season 7’s “The Power of Three,” when Matt Smith was still playing the Eleventh Doctor, and Langford first played Mel decades ago as a companion to Colin Baker’s Sixth Doctor and Sylvester McCoy’s Seventh Doctor.
Additionally, we’ll send more time with Michelle Greenidge’s Carla and Anita Dobson’s Mrs. Flood, the latter of whom was introduced as Ruby and Carla’s seemingly-normal neighbor. However, in the episode’s end-credits scene, she revealed that she knows what the TARDIS is, so hopefully Doctor Who will start shedding light on her true identity.
The New Cast Members Appearing In This Season Of Doctor Who
Among the fresh faces who are set to appear in the next Doctor Who seasons are Aneurin Barnard as Roger ap Gwilliam, Indira Varma as The Duchess, Lenny Rush as Morris, Jinkx Monsoon as “The Doctor’s most powerful enemy yet” (could this end up being the aforementioned The One Who Waits?) and Jonathan Groff playing an undisclosed, finely-dressed “key role.”
Additionally, one of this season’s episodes will see the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby Sunday traveling to the 1960s to watch a Beatles recording session. Expect to hear some interesting casting news for that episode.
Is Disney+'s New Doctor Who Show Season 1 Or Season 14?
The original Doctor Who ran for 26 seasons, but when the show relaunched in 2005, it was decided to refer to the opening batch of episodes featuring Christopher Eccleston’s Ninth Doctor as Season 1. So because the relaunched show is still running, it’d been assumed that Ncuti Gatwa’s first full season would be labeled as Season 14. However, Russell T. Davies told SFX Magazine (via Doctor Who TV) that because we’ve entered this new era where Disney+ is broadcasting Doctor Who internationally, this new season is being referred to as Season 1 in promotional material and marketing.
It's important to mention that previous showrunners Steven Moffat and Chris Chibnall attempted this kind of rebrand with Matt Smith and Jodie Whittaker’s first Doctor Who seasons, but they didn’t take. So we’ll have to wait and see if Davies has better luck than them, or if he’ll revert back to the previous ordering system.
This Season Will Only Consist Of Eight Episodes
While there was a time when we could count on 13 episodes in a modern Doctor Who season, that amount has dwindled since then. All of the Twelfth Doctor’s seasons consisted of 12 episodes, the first two Thirteenth Doctor seasons were made up of just 10 episodes, and her final season was only 6 episodes-long, although that was because of production complications caused by the COVID pandemic.
In December 2022, Russell T. Davies informed Doctor Who Magazine (via Bleeding Cool) that Doctor Who’s inaugural season on Disney+ will only have eight episodes, not counting specials. The same goes for Season 15… sorry, Season 2. The upside is that Davies also said that the show is expected to return to a more normal release schedule, i.e. not take any more gap years.
Keep checking back with CinemaBlend for more news about what Doctor Who Season 14 ( or the new Season 1) will be delivering to audiences. You can keep yourself entertained in the meantime by looking over the other best Disney+ TV shows.
