BBC confirms Doctor Who will continue without Disney+ after 2 Seasons, details revealed

Doctor Who has been a popular science fiction show ever since BBC started broadcasting it in 1963. The show follows the Doctor, a Time Lord, and their adventures as they travel through space and time in a time-traveling machine that looks like a British Police Box. From 1963 to now, fourteen actors have played the Doctor, which has made sense because the character’s body regenerates after periods of time, but their soul stays the same.

Since 2023, Disney+ and BBC have been in a partnership producing Doctor Who. Together, they have delivered two seasons of the show and a spin-off, The War Between the Land and the Sea. But now, as Deadline reports, that partnership has come to an end.

Disney+ will not longer produce the BBC show Doctor Who

BBC and Disney+ entered an international partnership to produce the Doctor Who series, and the first season under Disney+ was released in November 2023. That was followed by Season 2, which was released in April 2025. Deadline has now reported that BBC has made the decision to end this partnership and will continue to make more seasons of the show without Disney+.

For reasons not yet confirmed by BBC, Disney+ will no longer be associated with Doctor Who after the spin-off The War Between the Land and the Sea airs in 2026. That project will mark the end of their partnership. In a statement issued by BBC, Lindsay Salt, BBC’s Director of Drama, said:

“We’d like to thank Disney+ for being terrific global partners and collaborators over the past two seasons, and for the upcoming The War Between the Land and the Sea. The BBC remains fully committed to Doctor Who, which continues to be one of our most loved dramas, and we are delighted that Russell T Davies has agreed to write us another spectacular Christmas special for 2026. 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.”

The show was successful even before BBC started working with Disney+, and it looks like BBC is going back to how they did things before. Something has clearly not worked out as both parties had hoped, and thus the partnership comes to an end. However, the character of the Doctor and the show itself will be returning again. A Christmas special has already been confirmed for release in 2026. But a new Doctor is yet to be confirmed. Ncuti Gatwa was the last one who played the Doctor, and after Gatwa’s exit from the show, a new Doctor hasn’t been announced.

At the end of Disney+’s Doctor Who Season 2, the Doctor transformed into Rose Tyler, a past companion of the Doctor, played by Billie Piper. However, the show did not confirm her to be the next Doctor, and thus we still don’t know who will embody the Time Lord next. But as Salt said, news regarding the future of the show will be announced in due time.

Doctor Who is streaming on Disney+.

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