When the BBC announced a partnership with Disney that would bring Doctor Who to Disney+, the hope was that the long-running sci-fi series would reach a much wider audience. A bigger platform meant a significant budget increase, with the idea being to put the show on the same level as The Mandalorian and Loki, for example.
Unfortunately, Russell T Davies' return as showrunner has received a mixed response from longtime fans (largely due to storylines being perceived as "woke"), and non-fans simply haven't embraced Doctor Who. That's evident from the ratings.
Rumours point to Disney parting ways with the BBC once season 2 ends, meaning it will be down to the British broadcaster to fund and produce the series. If it happens, that will inevitably result in a lower budget, and according to multiple outlets, Ncuti Gatwa has already shot his regeneration scene as he gears up to leave Doctor Who to focus on his Hollywood career.
As we first reported on SFFGazette.com, social media is currently going wild over a rumour suggesting that Billie Piper has been cast as the Sixteenth Doctor!
As we're sure you'll remember, Piper played Rose Tyler during Davies' original reboot in the early 2000s. She and the Doctor fell in love and ultimately settled down in an alternate reality, where Rose was joined by the human "Meta-Crisis Doctor."
The Doctor wearing Rose's face would be very weird, particularly as the character's bi-generation means the Fourteenth Doctor (who looks like David Tennant) is still out there.
Adding further fuel to the fire is an image floating around that supposedly comes from a Disney+ email sent to subscribers in Spain. It reportedly shows Piper's eyes glowing with regeneration energy. We'll see, but this feels like the type of twist Davies would deliver, regardless of whether he intends to continue spearheading the series.
How people will respond to another female Doctor is hard to say, but Piper remains a favourite among fans, and Jodie Whittaker's run was negatively impacted by bad writing.
For what it's worth, The Mirror recently spoke to an inside source about what the future holds in store for Doctor Who:
"Whether or not Disney stays, the expectation is that the show will continue. Yes, there will be a gap while the scripts are finalised, the episodes are filmed and the editing process takes place. But we’ll be back."
"When Doctor Who began its partnership with Disney+, there was additional funding put in place. Doctor Who is an expensive show to make, with its effects budget taking up a significant part of the overall spend, so if Disney were to withdraw its funding, then there wouldn’t be as significant an impact on production as some fans may think. The TARDIS set is still standing in Cardiff, all ready to go on new adventures."
How would you feel about Piper playing the next Doctor? Let us know in the comments section below.