Doctor Who season 16: In summary Doctor Who will return on the BBC in 2026 Disney is officially out Billie Piper will star in the festive episode The War Between Ncuti Gatwa’s second series in the TARDIS had plenty of wild adventures, including a clash with a horrific cartoon, a terrifying expedition on a familiar planet and a visit to space’s answer to the Eurovision Song Contest. The two-part finale saw The Doctor trapped in a dystopian world controlled by an old face – Time Lady, the Rani. The second half had huge ramifications for the show going forward, with Gatwa stepping down from the role and a familiar face appearing during the regeneration scene. The future of the show has been rather murky since then. However, the BBC has now confirmed a return date – with some big changes afoot. Major spoilers for Doctor Who season 15 ending below BBC/Disney/Bad Wolf Studios Will Doctor Who return for season 16? After a long wait, we can now confirm that yes, Doctor Who will return for another series. Before that, the show will return for a Christmas special… but not until 2026. So, fans will be in for a hiatus until the next season. Lindsay Salt, the BBC’s Director of Drama, gave the following statement on the show’s future: “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.” At the same time, Disney also confirmed that it’s pulling out of it’s partnership with the show. Thus far, no other streaming partner has been found. But the statement also included some interesting wording regarding the showrunner… BBC/Disney/Bad Wolf Studios Will Russell T Davies continue as the Doctor Who showrunner? While Davies will be around for the next episode of Doctor Who, the BBC hasn’t committed to anything else beyond that. The official statement includes this line: “We are delighted that Russell T Davies has agreed to write us another spectacular Christmas special for 2026.” Note that it doesn’t explicitly confirm if Davies will return for the next series, just that it will air on the BBC in due course. Therefore, it’s likely that negotiations for who will helm the next season are still taking place. Russell T Davies previously told The Radio Times that he has ideas for up to three more series, so at the very least, he was committed to staying on at Doctor Who. However, the finale of season 15 was poorly received by fans and critics alike, so it would be unsurprising if the BBC decided to shake things up and have a reset… after the Christmas special, of course. When could Doctor Who season 16 air? Ncuti Gatwa originally stated on Graham Norton last October (via The Radio Times ) that filming for season 16 (or as Disney calls it, season 3) would begin this year. However, that no longer holds true, especially since Gatwa is not returning to the show as far as we know. We now know that there will be a pause until the next season , so fans may be in for a wait. The Christmas special will return in 2026, so there is a chance that we could see Doctor Who back on screens in 2027 – but we don’t yet know who will be in the blue box, and who will be the showrunner. Disney/BBC/Bad Wolf Will there be a Doctor Who Christmas Special this year? As mentioned above, the next Christmas Special won’t be until 2026 – so no Whovian surprise is coming this year, sadly. Who is the sixteenth Doctor? Ncuti Gatwa has ended his tenure as the Fifteenth Doctor after just two seasons. It’s not known exactly why Gatwa left, but he provided this statement below on Instagram: View this post on Instagram So, who will be replacing Gatwa? There was a regeneration scene after the Doctor used his energy to shift time into the correct alignment (which included a lovely reunion with the Thirteenth Doctor, Jodie Whittaker). Fifteen’s face changed into a very familiar one: Billie Piper , the actress who played Rose Tyler, the first ever companion when Doctor Who returned to screens in the 2000’s and spanned across both Chris Eccleston and David Tennant’s time in the TARDIS. However, she may not be who you think she is. Is Billie Piper the sixteenth Doctor? Interestingly, while the credits listed both Gatwa and Whittaker as ‘The Doctor’, it only stated ‘Introducing Billie Piper’. That could indicate that she may be something else. Fans are speculating that she may be the ‘Bad Wolf Doctor’, a plot from Rose’s first season where she absorbed the energy from the TARDIS. As this Reddit thread points out, as Fifteen interfered with the heart of the TARDIS, he may have unleashed this energy once again. She could be something else entirely – Fifteen also mentioned how the Gods like to play tricks. Right now, it’s not really certain if Piper will stick around as a full Doctor, or if she’s just going to be available for the Christmas special. Who else will star in Doctor Who season 16? No companions have been confirmed for the next Doctor, not even for the 2026 Christmas special. That said, The War Between the Land of the Sea set up an intriguing plot arc for Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, played by Jemma Redgrave – so she will almost certainly be back. At the end of the sequel, which dealt with the repercussions of polluting our oceans, Kate told off a jogger who littered on a beach. When he refused to clean up after himself, she pulled a gun on him and yelled at him repeatedly to “pick it up”. After witnessing the death of her partner, Colonel Christofer Ibrahim, Kate has been suffering from PTSD. However, rather than taking a break from work, she upped the dosage of her medication (against her psychologist’s advice, thanks to some blackmailing), and continued to push through. As such, it seems as if Kate has become rather unstable – something that could be dangerous for UNIT. We may see her clash with not just the Doctor, but her trusted colleagues such as Shirley Bingham (Ruth Madeley). What does the bigeneration mean for Doctor Who? Major spoilers for The Giggle below In the final 60th Anniversary Special, the fourteenth Doctor (David Tennant) was mortally wounded by the Toymaker, a powerful figure who defies the laws of time and space. Because of this, the Doctor’s typical regeneration was disrupted, and something rather remarkable happened. The fifteenth Doctor regenerated out of the fourteenth, leaving two fully formed Doctors with the same memories to work together to put an end to the Toymaker’s twisted games. The pair succeeded, and even managed to materialise a second Tardis so neither Time Lord was left without a vessel – though the fifteenth Doctor was left without a pair of trousers. Following the bigeneration, the fifteenth Doctor was eager to set out on a brand new adventure, and leave the troubles of his past behind – quite literally. The fourteenth Doctor was left with the Noble-Temple family to live a quiet, happy life and heal from the trauma of losing his past companions and bearing the burden of destroying parts of the universe during the Flux. While the main series follows Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor, David Tennant’s character is still alive and well. He may not be travelling around time and space as much, but keeping him on-side for cameos and potential spin-offs is an interesting idea. However, the bigeneration has even bigger ramifications, according to Davies. In the commentary for the The Giggle (available on BBC iPlayer ), he says the following: I think all of the Doctors came back to life with their individual Tardises, the gift of the Toymaker, and they’re all out there travelling round in what I’m calling a Doctor verse… Sylvester McCoy woke up in a drawer, in a morgue, in San Francisco… and Jon Pertwee woke up on the floor of the laboratory Bigeneration was apparently seen as a myth by the Time Lords prior to this event, but now that it’s been brought to fruition, anything is possible… as we saw with the Rani. How can you watch Doctor Who in the US? Disney+ is now the home for new episodes in the US. This was revealed alongside the new logo for the show. Accounts for this service start from $7.99 per month. BBC/Disney/Bad Wolf Studios If you’d rather watch episodes from the BBC, you can use a VPN to stream episodes on iPlayer as if you were in the UK. Bear in mind that this is a breach of the iPlayer terms of use since you won’t be paying the licence fee , but it will let you watch every episode of the show since the very beginning. Warner Bros. used to have US streaming rights to the series for Max , so that’s where you’ll need to go to watch any and all Doctor Who from 2005 up until the end of Jodie’s era. Classic Who episodes are available on BritBox . You can also read: 4 things these Doctor Who experts want from the new season , and David Tennant teases he’s working on a secret project .