Former ‘Doctor Who’ Star Officially Addresses the Show’s Uncertain Future [Exclusive]

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Published Oct 17, 2026, 12:05 PM EDT

On May 31, 2025, the finale of Doctor Who’s most recent season aired and stole the spotlight on social media. Sadly, this discussion wasn’t full of gushing praise for the series, as the shock exit of new Time Lord Ncuti Gatwa and a final **Billie Piper **reveal led to scathing reviews of the episode itself and the wider Disney era. Although there was promise of a return this Christmas, the news came earlier this year that the timey-wimey series had been put out to competitive tender by the BBC, with Whovians shocked and saddened at the uncertain state of their beloved show.

As a show with regeneration at its two-hearts, *Doctor Who *is already fighting for a future back on our screens. In a positive update, Line of Duty creator Jed Mercurio, through his production company, Hat Trick Mercurio, is supposedly the favorite to take over the series, hoping for a return in 2028 and 2029. This positive boost for Whovians can be felt across social media, and now a groundbreaking former star has offered her hopeful prediction for the show’s future in an interview with Collider’s Taylor Gates.

Speaking with Gates for the new season of*** The****** Diplomat***, when asked about the current state of the series, Jodie Whittaker said,** **“**I think that the beauty of [Doctor Who] is that it has its moments of pause. **It always has. A show can’t run this long and not have its moments of pause, but what is so magical about it is every and any direction is a possibility,” speaking to the longevity that has kept the show going for over 60 years. “What a fucking great thing,” she added, continuing:

“There is limitless possibility in any direction it can ever go, and that continues to keep fans, but it will also mean that, for the next generation of Whovians, their doctor can be whoever in whatever moment. I think that’s why it’s so special and reaches people. You can go back over it, and you can enter into it at any point, but what you can’t do is predict the future of it, and that has only ever been exciting.”

Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.

You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t help but notice the seams in things.

The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That’s you.

You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.

Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.

The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.

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