The Doctor’s next adventures will be looking for a new home on much of the planet.
Disney+ has exited its Doctor Who partnership with the BBC , which made the streamer the worldwide home of the sci-fi series outside the U.K. and Ireland. The BBC, however, says it’s committed to continuing the show; the next installment will be a 2026 Christmas special.
“We’d like to thank Disney+ for being terrific global partners and collaborators over the past two seasons, and for the upcoming [spinoff series] The War Between the Land and the Sea,” said Lindsay Salt, director of drama at the BBC. “The BBC remains fully committed to Doctor Who, which continues to be one of our most loved dramas, and we are delighted that Russell T Davies has agreed to write us another spectacular Christmas special for 2026. We can assure fans, the Doctor is not going anywhere, and we will be announcing plans for the next series in due course, which will ensure the TARDIS remains at the heart of the BBC.”
Disney+ and the BBC announced the Doctor Who streaming deal in October 2022; it ended up covering two seasons of the show, with Ncuti Gatwa playing the 15th Doctor (he left the role at the end of the most recent season, which concluded in May), along with The War Between the Land and the Sea. Disney+ will continue to stream those two seasons and specials produced during the partnership in the territories where it carries the show.
Speculation that Disney would leave the partnership has been in the air for some time, as the initial term covered two seasons plus the spinoff and the company had been quiet about the show’s future. U.S. viewing figures aren’t available — as is usually the case with streaming shows — but Doctor Who on Disney+ didn’t rise to the level of the streamer’s Star Wars or Marvel franchises, never cracking Nielsen’s list of the top 10 original streaming shows during its run.
Gatwa’s final episode ended with the Doctor regenerating into the form of Rose Tyler (Billie Piper), the companion of the ninth and 10th doctors (Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant), but the BBC hasn’t confirmed whether Piper will, in fact, play the next Doctor. If so, she would be the second woman to play the character following Jodie Whittaker’s run as the 13th Doctor from 2018-22.
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