Why Did Disney and DOCTOR WHO Part Ways?

Least Likely – Too ‘Woke’ for Trump’s USA

In the piece, Deadline said a “well-placed industry source” blamed the dissolution on Disney’s hesitancy to continue the famously progressive sci-fi series on a certain kind of viewer. In fairness, this iteration of the show did have a Black, queer full-time Doctor, major characters who were trans, onscreen gay kissing, a drag performer playing a villain, and stories with zero onscreen white people. The insider claims all of this was “too woke for Trump’s USA.”

While tempting to tip the blame this way, I really doubt this was entirely the reason. Disney is risk-averse, as we know, and may be willing (at least in the short term) to attempt to appease conservative backlash. However, did that many people even notice or care that Doctor Who was doing these things? In the UK, the BBC got some complaints, but that’s because it’s the country’s main broadcast network. And those dorks complain about everything.

Second Least Likely – Ncuti Gatwa Wasn’t a Good Brand Ambassador

Above and beyond the Disney deal of it all, we know something happened to bring Ncuti Gatwa’s time on the show to a premature conclusion. We probably won’t know the true story for a very long time. While every indication seemed to be Gatwa would return for at least a third series, that ended up not happening. The 33-year-old actor said in an interview that he was “getting old and my body was tired.” That’s as may be. (Call me when you’re 41 and have high blood pressure and bad knees, dude.)

Deadline said, according to another unnamed insider the show suffered because Gatwa never fully embraced the role. “There is more to that role than performing,” this person says. “You have got to be an ambassador for the brand and embrace being that generation’s Doctor. Matt Smith and David Tennant fully understood the responsibility it carried.”

I think this is pretty hogwashy as well. Maybe Gatwa didn’t embrace the role as much as others, maybe he did just treat it as another job, but that again would not be enough to make Disney want to discontinue the show. And would his leaving have been a hindrance to the brokering of a new deal? Honestly, same with the “woke” stuff I talked about above. If Disney were so worried about Gatwa’s whole persona, wouldn’t they be more likely to do more now that he’d left?

Second Most Likely – Ratings Weren’t Good

Disney is a numbers-focused enterprise, first and foremost. Why did they suspend Jimmy Kimmel? They were worried about ratings going down. Why did they un-suspend him so quickly? Because they lost more subscribers than they would have lost market ratings. It’s all cost-benefit. The fact of the matter is, as much as those of us who love Doctor Who love it, the show has never had the kind of crossover appeal of something like Star Wars or Marvel. Even at the very height of its U.S. popularity circa 2012 and 2013, Doctor Who‘s actual audience share on BBC America was much lower than any other “big hit” on cable.

None of the above issues would have mattered a tinker’s cuss had the show been a runaway smash hit. The piece cites “this year’s season failed to register in Nielsen and Luminate’s streaming charts.” It was even lower than the “flop” that was the 2024 season. The lackluster two-part finale in an otherwise quite solid inaugural season likely soured casual viewers on returning for the next season. Disney also didn’t seem to give the series nearly the same marketing push for “season two” as it did for “season one.” All of that results in bad viewing figures.

Most Likely Reason – High Budget, Low Return

When it comes right down to it, Disney needed more than just good vibes to want to keep spending loads of money on Doctor Who. The series had a higher budget with Disney money than it ever had on BBC alone, but that clearly didn’t draw in too many new viewers. Doctor Who has a fervent and loyal fanbase, but it’s not on a par with the biggest franchises. Disney also doesn’t own the series, so they would always have had to split profits with the BBC.

The most salient point the Deadline piece makes is a simple matter of dollars and cents, or pounds and pence:

Announced in October 2022, Disney’s agreement to co-produce Doctor Who was inked at the height of the streaming wars, just weeks before Bob Iger walked back into the building and started scaling back spending. It was hailed at the time as an “unprecedented” pact bringing together “two giants of entertainment,” but the ex-Disney insider says they soon detected regret at spending so much on Doctor Who. The show’s budget was between £6M ($8.5M) and £8M per episode, we understand, putting the value of the deal at as much as £168M.

That’s the long and short of it right there. Bob Chapek spent way too much money on streaming and when Bob Iger took back over, he began cutting down TV projects for Disney+. Disney at one point saw Doctor Who as an asset for its streaming “content” portfolio. Not long after they struck the deal, the Mouse House only saw the bleeding bank statement.

Obviously, many factors go into the production of a TV series. But if Disney wasn’t getting what it needed out of the deal monetarily or Emmy nomination-wise, it would have been unlikely to sign a new deal. And if, as many have speculated, there had been any behind-the-scenes turmoil, it makes sense for Disney to cut bait on the TARDIS crew.

What’s Next for Doctor Who?

We know two things as of right now. One, the spinoff The War Between the Land and the Sea will air on BBC in December. We don’t know when it will air on Disney+ to mark the official end of the requirements on Disney’s end—some time in 2026. Two, we know the BBC has commissioned a 2026 Christmas episode to presumably tie up the loose end of Billie Piper as the Rose Doctor Tyler Bad Wolf Moment or whatever. (I don’t even f-----’ know, man.)

What we don’t know is whether or if Davies will continue on as showrunner beyond that, if he’ll stay on as a producer at all, or if we’ll get a whole new everything in the future. Doctor Who remains the BBC’s biggest global brand, so it will need to find a new partner somewhere. Deadline suggests Paramount might be interested, especially since the whole of the series from 2005 to 2023 just left HBO Max. The promise of library content and new episodes might be enough. It’s also not like Skydance doesn’t love spending money.

The Disney+ era for Doctor Who was fraught almost from start to finish, so when the show inevitably regenerates yet again, fans can only hope for some stability in space and time.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Letterboxd.