Doctor Who is returning to the BBC and Disney+ in 2024 for a brand-new season, here is everything we know about the release, cast, story, and more.
Following the three 60th anniversary specials led by David Tennant, Ncuti Gatwa has taken the TARDIS reins with the 2023 Christmas special, "The Church on Ruby Road," and will be back to star in his first season this year.
When Will Doctor Who’s 2024 Season Release?
Following the premiere of the 2023 Christmas special, “The Church on Ruby Road,” and the debut trailer for Doctor Who’s 2024 season, the BBC and Disney+ confirmed a May premiere for the eight-episode run.
Doctor Who is expected to debut new episodes weekly every Saturday for eight weeks, starting on an unknown date in May. They will air live on BBC One in the U.K. & Ireland while simultaneously arriving on Disney+ in all other territories.
With the Disney+ release time likely to align with the BBC One live airing in the U.K. & Ireland, U.S. audiences can expect episodes to drop somewhere around 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT.
Additionally, showrunner Russell T. Davies told The Big Issue in November 2023 how he had just turned in a Doctor Who script for an episode that will "be on the air in May 2025:"
"If I sound a bit hyper, it’s because I just this morning delivered a Doctor Who script that will be on air in May 2025. And it’s brand new. It does things we’ve never done before. The writing really pushed me. It’s such a mad episode, I had to deliver it with a diagram explaining what’s going on! I’ve never had to do that in my entire life before."
This confirms Ncuti Gatwa’s second season as the Time Lord is planned to air exactly one year after his first in May 2025, delivering on Davies’ promise for annual seasons of Doctor Who with no major gaps.
Doctor Who has already wrapped filming on its 2024 season along with this year’s Christmas special. Production is now underway in Cardiff, Wales, for the 2025 season and festive episode, which will once again star Gatwa’s 15th Doctor and Millie Gibson’s Ruby Sunday.
While most would assume this year’s new episodes would fall under Season 14, Doctor Who will reset its season numbering this year following the show’s arrival on Disney+. As such, the 2024 season will officially be dubbed Season 1 of an all-new era of Doctor Who.
The new episodes will reportedly be produced with a record-breaking budget increase thanks to the deal between the BBC and Disney, allowing Doctor Who to go bigger than ever with its monsters, alien planets, and action.
Who Will Appear in Doctor Who’s 2024 Season?
Doctor Who’s 2024 season will be headlined by Ncuti Gatwa’s 15th Doctor and Millie Gibson’s new companion Ruby Sunday, but plenty of guest stars have already been announced who will appear across the eight episodes.
Additionally, the alien-fighting organization U.N.I.T. will be back in Season 1 amid rumors it may be the focus of a new spin-off series.
As such, Jemma Redgrave’s Kate Stewart, Bonnie Langford’s Mel Bush, Ruth Madeley's Shirley Ann Bingham, and Alexander Devrient's Colonel Ibrahim ought to be back following their appearances in “The Giggle.”
Obi-Wan Kenobi’s Indira Varma will play the Duchess in a regency era (early 1800s Britain) story that will also star Jonathan Groff in an unknown role.
Drag queen Jinx Moonson will make her Doctor Who debut as the Doctor's "most powerful enemy yet" in Episode 2, "The Devil's Chord," which is also expected to feature the infamous band The Beatles.
Aneurin Barnard will appear as the British politician Roger ap Gwilliam, a new character Davies cryptically called "mysterious" on Instagram, leaving most expecting him to be a villain.
14-year-old dwarf actor Lenny Rush will appear as Morris following the actor's 2023 BAFTA award win for the British comedy series Am I Being Unreasonable?
Despite the 60th anniversary specials leaving David Tennant’s 14th Doctor to continue life on Earth, the actor is not expected to return. Speaking at a screening of the 2023 Christmas special, Russell T. Davies confirmed there are "no plans" for more stories with Tennant "yet:"
"Sorry, it's the age of Ncuti now – it's 'David who?' No plans, genuinely, yet, because it's a busy TARDIS - these two [Gatwa and Millie Gibson as companion Ruby Sunday] are gonna just sail across the universe and capture your heart, so it's time to look at these two."
While David Tennant and Catherine Tate are unlikely to be involved this season, Donna Noble’s daughter Rose, played by Yasmin Finney, will appear. Davies praised the actress to Entertainment Weekly, hinting at her Doctor Who future:
"She’s absolutely terrific, and she has more appearances to come, simply because I adore working with her.”
Anita Dobson's Mrs. Flood, Michelle Greenidge's Carl Sunday, and Angela Wynter's Cherry Sunday are all likely to return following their debuts in "The Church on Ruby Road" due to their connections to Ruby.
A full list of Doctor Who's main 2024 cast can be seen below:
- Ncuti Gatwa - 15th Doctor
- Millie Gibson - Ruby Sunday
- Jemma Redgrave - Kate Stewart
- Ruth Madeley - Shirley Ann Bingham
- Alexander Devrient - Colonel Ibrahim
- Yasmin Finney - Rose Noble
- Anita Dobson - Mrs. Flood
- Michelle Greenidge - Carl Sunday
- Angela Wynter - Cherry Sunday
- Bonnie Langford - Mel Bush
- Indira Varma - The Duchess
- Aneurin Barnard - Roger ap Gwilliam
- Jonathan Groff - TBA
- Jinx Moonson - TBA
- Lenny Rush - Morris
Other confirmed guest actors include Jack Forsyth-Noble, Bhav Joshi, Eilidh Loan, Pete MacHale, Miles Yekinni, and Hemi Yeroham.
What Will Happen in Doctor Who’s 2024 Season?
Doctor Who's four 2023 specials laid the groundwork for several larger storylines expected to span into the new season and possibly even further as the sci-fi mainstay does have a long history of multi-season mysteries.
The first came from "The Star Beast" villain Beep the Meep who, after being thwarted by the Doctor and co., teased their "boss," which has been confirmed to be a tease for the upcoming season and one of its villains.
Meanwhile, in "The Giggle," Neil Patrick Harris' Toymaker referred to the "One Who Waits" as the one entity he didn't dare play in a game, before warning on his demise how his "legions are coming."
Russell T. Davies teased to the official Doctor Who podcast how this could be heading toward the arrival of other "godlike characters" akin to the Toymaker:
"The Toymaker said his legions are coming, and they are. Faithful viewers, listeners, podcasters, I can tell you, they are. Possibly also involving pantheons of previous godlike characters. There have been godlike characters before in Doctor Who, the Gods of Ragnarok, for example, and other powerful beings who you can decide are gods or not."
Many have speculated this is all heading toward the debut of Jinx Moonson's mysterious villain. Since the BBC hyped them up as the series' "most powerful enemy yet," it would make sense for them to be the latest of these "godlike characters" and possibly even the illusive "One Who Waits."
About other larger mysteries, Doctor Who still has plenty of questions left to answer about Ruby Sunday and her curious neighbor Mrs. Flood.
After turning to the camera at the end of "The Church on Ruby Road" and saying with a wink, "Never seen a TARDIS before," Mrs. Flood has left many speculating about her true identity. But Davies hinted on Doctor Who: Unleashed that will be a "slow burn" mystery, meaning the answers may not come until past 2024:
"Mrs Flood is a mysterious character. You will eventually find out more about her. She’s a slow burn, Mrs Flood. Who is Mrs Flood? Come back and find out!"
There is also the question of Ruby's birth mother who abandoned her outside a church on Christmas Eve. As the new companion was on the hunt for her true heritage with her debut, those questions are bound to be answered down the line, presumably with connections to some larger sci-fi tale as this is Doctor Who.
Doctor Who's eight-episode 2024 Season is expected to include six fairly standalone adventures with the Doctor and Ruby before culminating in a two-part epic finale.
The Doctor and Ruby will take an adventure back to the '60s where they will meet the Beetles, time-hop to regency-era Britain to encounter the mysterious Duchess, get into some modern-day action where they will reteam with U.N.I.T., and more.
What Monsters Will Feature in Doctor Who’s 2024 Season?
Speaking in an interview with Digital Spy, Russell T. Davies shut down hopes of two returning icons, confirming the Daleks and Cybermen will both sit out the new season because he "didn't want to look back too much" as those monsters "need a good pause:"
"So there are no Daleks, there are no Cybermen. I didn't want to look back too much. I do think we've had a lot of Daleks lately, because Chris Chibnall's Christmas [New Year] specials have all been Daleks, so I think they've been done a lot. So I think people expect them every year now. I think they need a good pause."
Davies confirmed that while there are "one or two little hark backs" his focus was on "new stuff," sharing his hopes to have created some "new classics:"
"There's one or two little hark backs. It's very new. Ncuti's new. Millie's new. And it was new to us with Disney and the whole new era... It's kind of eyes on the new stuff. We do some brilliant things with that. So hopefully there's some enemies and things that will become new classics, but it's always good to move on."
Ncuti Gatwa revealed to SFX Magazine one of the villains faced, seemingly in Episode 1, will be the Boogeyman, which many have speculated is the Stranger Things-esque monster shown off in the trailer.
The trailer also included several slug-like creatures who could either be new creations or an adaptation of the Fendahl from Doctor Who's classic era.
The focus on new villains also seems to rule out a comeback for the Doctor's arch-nemesis the Master, a fellow Time Lord who has been played by many actors over the years - including Michelle Gomez, Sascha Dhawan, John Simm, and more.
"The Giggle" seemed to be teasing more Master stories after the Toymaker noted how he beat the Time Lord as he was "begging for his life" and trapped him in his gold tooth. And, after Neil Patrick Harris' villain was defeated, said gold tooth was seen being picked up by an anonymous hand with red-painted nails.
Doctor Who Season 1 will premiere on BBC One and iPlayer in the U.K. & Ireland in May 2024 while coming to Disney+ in all other territories.
