Doctor Who's Future Confirmed With New Details For Upcoming Fresh Take On Series

Published Sep 17, 2026, 12:39 PM EDT

Growing up around performers, storytelling was always central to Emma's life. Add in a nerdy older brother who introduced her to Marvel at far too young an age, and her love for entertainment led her to pursue a Journalism degree at Indiana University, where she discovered her passion for entertainment reporting. She spent nearly one year in Los Angeles covering industry stories and fully immersing herself in the world of entertainment media.

Doctor Who is officially preparing for another regeneration.

The long-running sci-fi series is entering a very different era after the BBC's partnership with Disney+ ended and showrunner Russell T Davies and production company Bad Wolf departed. While plenty of questions surround who will take over the TARDIS next, the BBC has now offered the clearest look yet at what it wants the future of Doctor Who to be.

According to the BBC's newly published invitation to tender, the broadcaster is commissioning a "new flagship series" of Doctor Who for transmission in 2028/29. The contract covers a multi-episode series, including specials, with the BBC holding the option to extend the deal for a second series. A winning production company is expected to be announced in March 2027.

The BBC is looking for the next Doctor Who to feel "contemporary" and "creatively ambitious," while remaining true to what has kept the series going for more than 60 years, feeling as if nothing can stop the show's future. Alongside the Doctor, producers are being asked to create at least one companion with their own relationships, ambitions, and personal journey. Stories should continue taking audiences everywhere from historical settings and contemporary Earth to alien worlds and distant futures.

There are definitely some factors the BBC wants to keep around. The new series should still deliver the show's famous "back of the sofa" scares, along with plenty of jeopardy and tension, while remaining family-friendly. Doctor Who's established villains are also welcome, but the BBC doesn't want the series to become "overly reliant" on existing lore. Instead, pitches are expected to introduce original characters, aliens, and ideas that can help the show appeal to longtime fans and new viewers.

However, the BBC is leaving quite a bit open for whoever ultimately takes over. There is no set episode count yet, and the broadcaster is flexible about whether the series is serialized or follows a story-of-the-week format. Perhaps most notably after Davies' exit, the BBC said the next era may not follow the same leadership structure:

We are not necessarily looking to work to a strict showrunner model and would expect once in production that the series will also use episodic writers.

Who will actually be playing the Doctor is another question that remains unanswered. Ncuti Gatwa's Fifteenth Doctor regenerated into the familiar face of Billie Piper in The Reality War, but Piper was never officially announced as the Sixteenth Doctor. That leaves the surprise regeneration unresolved as an entirely new production team prepares to inherit the TARDIS.

The winning company will produce Doctor Who on a work-for-hire basis, with all rights remaining with the BBC. The broadcaster also prefers production to qualify in Wales, continuing the show's longstanding connection to the region.

With a new production company, potentially different leadership structure, and a still-unresolved Doctor, the next Doctor Who could look very different when it arrives in 2028 or 2029. For those hoping to take it on, the BBC ended its creative brief by saying, "Be brave, have fun."

Doctor Who