Steven Moffat has been the showrunner on Doctor Who since 2010, but the long-running series is about to go through a slew of changes. Not only is current lead Peter Capaldi getting a brand new companion in Pearl Mackie during Season 10, but Steven Moffat is also preparing to step down as the showrunner on the series. Now, we finally know when the changeover is going to take place, but it looks as if it won’t happen for a while, yet. Steven Moffat just confirmed he will not be stepping down as soon as Season 10 ends. Instead, he will stick around for the Christmas special in 2017, as well.
During a normal season of Doctor Who, we would get new episodes of Doctor Who in the fall. However, Season 10 is not going to be a regular season of Doctor Who. Instead, we’ll get a Christmas special in December of 2016 and then the full season of Doctor Who will hit the schedule in 2017. That means that things will be pretty flipped around, with the Christmas special kicking off the season rather than capping off the season. Luckily, it looks as if Steven Moffat will be around for all of the scheduling changes and will stick with the series until Season 10 is over, plus another Christmas special, allowing Broadchurch creator Chris Chibnall to start on the show in 2018.
This sort of deal has sort-of been expected for a few months, now, but Doctor Who Magazine finally confirmed what Moffat eluded to earlier this year. Here's what he had to say formerly:
Feels odd to be talking about leaving when I’m just starting work on the scripts for Season 10, but the fact is my timey-wimey is running out. While Chris is doing his last run of Broadchurch, I’ll be finishing up on the best job in the universe and keeping the TARDIS warm for him. At the start of Season 11, Chris Chibnall will become the new showrunner of Doctor Who. And I will be thrown in a skip.
Usually when a new showrunner will take over for an exiting showrunner, it will happen between seasons, giving the new person time to acclimate and plan an entire season of TV in a way that fits the new person’s vision. That’s actually exactly what is going to happen with Doctor Who. Chris Chibnall is expected to begin as the showrunner in 2018, which indicates that the BBC plans to air Doctor Who Season 11 during the spring season in 2018 instead of the fall, as well.
Doctor Who just started filming Season 10 in May, but we’ll keep you posted as we get closer to the premiere date. In the meantime, you can see what TV has coming up with our summer premiere schedule.
