Last October, the rumours were confirmed when Disney+ officially ended its Doctor Who partnership with the BBC. The streamer had teamed with the British Broadcasting Company to bring the long-running sci-fi series to a global audience.
That included a significant financial contribution meant to give the show a big-budget feel, bringing it more in line with high-concept series like Game of Thrones and The Mandalorian.
Following the 60th anniversary specials starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate, the first two seasons of Doctor Who's latest revival struggled to find an audience both in the UK and on Disney+. Not helping matters was repeated backlash surrounding showrunner Russell T Davies's "woke" approach to the stories being told.
Ncuti Gatwa, who appeared sporadically during Season 1 due to other commitments, left the series after the Season 2 finale, regenerating into a female Doctor with Billie Piper's face (the actress played companion Rose Tyler when the series was brought back by Davies in 2005).
A Christmas special, written by Davies, is coming to the BBC this year. It's been widely theorised that it will mark the end of Davies' latest stint in the TARDIS, with a new creative team eventually taking the Time Lord back to the drawing board once the Piper story is resolved. Whatever happens, the series is likely to have its budget slashed...and something still needs to be done to win fans back.
Deadline (via SFFGazette.com) recently spoke with BBC Studios production chief Zai Bennett, and the trade points out that, "For the show to continue long beyond its 2026 Christmas special, the BBC now needs to replace some of that lost budget, which totals millions of pounds per hour."
Asking Bennett whether BBC Studios is willing to come up with the money needed to keep Doctor Who alive, the executive said he "won't speak for the BBC" and added that "we're all in it together" when it comes to the Doctor's future.
He continued, "We're a big, important part of Doctor Who and are all motivated to make sure Doctor Who has a long and flourishing life. We've got the Christmas special coming. After that, it's time for us all to work on it."
It's not the most encouraging update, but it does go some way in confirming that the Whoniverse is going back to the drawing board.
There may still be some issues between the BBC and Disney+ because there's still no word on a Disney+ premiere date for The War Between the Land and Sea, despite it landing on the BBC late last year.
It's previously been reported that Disney regretted spending so much on the series (you'll recall that the deal was made when former Disney CEO Bob Chapek was throwing as many resources as possible into streaming). The budget was between $6 million and $8 million an episode, taking the value of this deal to as much as $169 million.
With Doctor Who failing to secure new Disney+ subscribers, it was not a good investment. BBC sources argued that Disney+ never got behind the show in terms of marketing, though those representing the House of Mouse disputed the claims.
Keep checking back here for updates on Doctor Who as we have them.