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Netflix Officially Addresses the Future of ‘Doctor Who’

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It has been over a year since the Season 15 finale of Doctor Who aired, and since then, more and more questions have surrounded the sci-fi hit’s future after its partnership with Disney+ ended. While the BBC remains committed to continuing the series, Disney+ previously announced that it would not partner with the broadcaster moving forward, and the previously announced 2026 Christmas special has since been cancelled. As the BBC prepares for the show’s next era, Doctor Who is being put out to competitive tender, opening the door for a new production company to take over the series.

Questions about Doctor Who‘s future have also continued to arise following Ncuti Gatwa‘s exit. The Sex Education actor left after two seasons for a number of reasons, including the show’s physical demands. The finale ends with the Fifteenth Doctor regenerating into a mysterious figure played by Billie Piper, who previously portrayed Rose Tyler. However, it has yet to be confirmed whether Piper will play the Doctor when the show returns, and Piper has only given cryptic answers about her new role in the series. Unlike Gatwa and Jodie Whittaker, Piper does not have “The Doctor” attached to her name in the episode’s credits, and the BBC has not officially announced her as the next Doctor.

One company that could take over Doctor Who is Netflix, as the streaming giant has shown its capability to produce large-scale sci-fi shows like Stranger Things. However, the streamer seems to have no plans to take over production, according to Netflix UK’s VP of Content Anne Mensah. Radio Times reports that during her appearance at the Edinburgh TV Festival 2026 Spotlight panel, Mensah was asked whether Netflix was interested in the BBC’s competitive tender for Doctor Who, and she said she thinks the show belongs to the BBC, despite having a deep love for the show and showing excitement about the idea of working with showrunner Russell T Davies. She said:

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“I love Doctor Who. Anything that stays brilliant this long will have many, many lives. I was obsessed with Doctor Who. Okay, so in complete truth, like Russell T is like my person most missed in my life. I love Russell’s work. So, yeah, the better question would have been, but would I love to work with Russell T Davies? Yes, I would love to work with Russell T Davies because he’s a freaking genius. I think Doctor Who belongs on the BBC, and I think all of its iterations. I was there when Jane Tranter [former Controller of Drama Commissioning at the BBC and Bad Wolf co-founder] relaunched it. It’s a really special show, but it belongs on the BBC. We’ve got Supacell!”



















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Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Personality Quiz
Which Sci-Fi Hero Are You Most Like?
Paul Atreides · Captain Kirk · Princess Leia · Ellen Ripley · Max Rockatansky

Five iconic heroes. Five completely different ways of facing an impossible universe. One of them shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of refusing to back down. Eight questions will tell you which one.

🏜️Paul Atreides

🖖Capt. Kirk

Princess Leia

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🔦Ellen Ripley

🔥Max Rockatansky

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01

How do you lead when the stakes couldn’t be higher?
The way you lead under pressure is the most honest thing about you.





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02

What is your greatest strength in a crisis?
The quality that keeps you alive when everything else fails.





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03

What is the thing you’d sacrifice everything else for?
Your deepest motivation is your truest compass.





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04

How do you relate to the people around you?
Who you are to others under pressure is who you really are.





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05

You’re facing a threat that no one else believes is real. What do you do?
How you respond when you’re the only one who sees it defines everything.





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06

What has your heroism cost you personally?
Every hero pays. The question is what — and whether they’d pay it again.





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07

How do you feel about the rules of the world you’re in?
Every hero has a relationship with the system. What’s yours?





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08

When everything is on the line, what keeps you going?
The answer is the most honest thing about you.





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Your Hero Has Been Identified
Your Sci-Fi Hero Is…

Your answers point to the iconic sci-fi hero who shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of facing the impossible.

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Arrakis · Dune

Paul Atreides

You carry a weight most people would crumble under — the knowledge of what you’re capable of, and the burden of what you might have to become.

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  • You see further ahead than others and you plan accordingly, even when the vision frightens you.
  • You are driven by loyalty to your people and a sense of destiny you didn’t ask for but can’t escape.
  • Paul Atreides is not simply a hero — he is someone who understands the cost of power and chooses to bear it anyway.
  • That gravity, that willingness to carry what others won’t, is exactly you.


USS Enterprise · Star Trek

Captain Kirk

You lead with instinct, warmth, and an absolute refusal to accept a no-win scenario — because you’ve always believed there’s a third option nobody else has thought of yet.

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  • You take the mission seriously without ever taking yourself too seriously.
  • Your crew would follow you anywhere, not because you demand it, but because you’ve earned it.
  • Kirk’s genius isn’t tactical — it’s human. He reads people, bends rules with purpose, and wills outcomes into existence through sheer conviction.
  • That combination of warmth, audacity, and relentless optimism is unmistakably yours.


The Rebellion · Star Wars

Princess Leia

You are the kind of person who holds the line when everyone else is losing faith — not because you’re fearless, but because giving up simply isn’t something you’re capable of.

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  • You lead through conviction. Your voice carries because your belief is unshakeable.
  • You gave up everything ordinary the moment you chose the cause, and you’ve never looked back.
  • Leia is not a supporting character in her own story — she is the moral centre of the entire rebellion.
  • That same fierce, principled, unbreakable core is what defines you.


The Nostromo · Alien

Ellen Ripley

You are not reckless, not grandiose, and not particularly interested in being anyone’s hero — you just refuse to stop when it matters.

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  • You see threats clearly, you document the truth even when no one listens, and when the time comes you handle it yourself.
  • Ripley’s heroism is earned, not performed. She doesn’t have a speech — she has a flamethrower and a plan.
  • You share her composure under the worst possible pressure, and her refusal to pretend the monster isn’t there.
  • When it counts, you don’t flinch. That’s everything.


The Wasteland · Mad Max

Max Rockatansky

You have been through fire that would break most people — and what came out the other side is something the world underestimates at its peril.

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  • You don’t ask for help, don’t need validation, and don’t wait for anyone to tell you the rules no longer apply.
  • Your loyalty, when it finally arrives, is absolute — but it’s earned in silence and tested in action, not in words.
  • Max is not a nihilist. He is someone who lost everything and found, against his will, that he still has something worth protecting.
  • That bruised, stubborn, ultimately human core is exactly yours.

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What Is ‘Doctor Who’ About?

Doctor Who is a science fiction show that launched on the BBC in 1963 and follows an alien Time Lord named The Doctor. In the first broadcast, this alien’s travel companions were his granddaughter and two of her teachers, as they traveled across time and space to engage in different adventures. As the show went on, new actors took on the role of The Doctor and his companions, with the most recent being Gatwa playing the Fifteenth Doctor and Varada Sethu as the companion, Belinda Chandra. In addition to the main show, Doctor Who has released a handful of spin-offs that told stories of other characters, with the most recent being The War Between Land and Sea, which follows UNIT, a fictional military organization allied with The Doctor, who discovers the existence of Sea Devils on Earth.

Doctor Who is available to stream on Disney+ and Prime Video. Follow Collider for more updates on the franchise’s future.​​​​​​​


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Release Date

2024 – 2025-00-00

Network
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BBC One

Directors

Alex Pillai, Peter Hoar, Ben Chessell, Julie Anne Robinson, Jamie Donoughue, Amanda Brotchie, Dylan Holmes Williams

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Writers

Steven Moffat, Pete McTighe, Kate Herron, Inua Ellams, Juno Dawson

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Franchise(s)

Doctor Who / Whoniverse

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