When the world of Doctor Who is in crisis, the Doctor is often at her best. It turns out the same is true in the real world as BBC America has confirmed that Season 13 of Doctor Who is officially underway. There is a bit of bad news for fans, unfortunately, though it has nothing to do with any of the rumors about cast members departing in the immediate future. Instead, fans will have to settle for fewer episodes this season than they're used to.
Doctor Who Season 13 will run for only 8 episodes. Showrunner Chris Chibnall talked about the reasoning for fewer episodes and offered words of encouragement for anyone bummed out by the news.
In this strangest of years, the Doctor Who production team have worked wonders to get the show back into production. We’re thrilled to be back making the show. Given the complexity of making Doctor Who, and with new and rigorous COVID working protocols, it’s going to take us a little longer to film each episode, meaning we expect to end up with eight episodes, rather than the usual 11. But rest assured, the ambition, humor, fun and scares you expect from Doctor Who will all still be firmly in place. For everyone around the world, this is a challenging period – but the Doctor never shirks from a challenge!
For anyone potentially seeing this as a red flag signaling the death of Doctor Who, it's worth noting that this has been a common trend with television shows as of late. Networks like CBS have to take longer to film, pay more to implement new procedures, and find new ways to film scenes while maintaining the safety of the cast and crew. Giving a show fewer episodes is a way to account for extended time for filming episodes,
If there is an upside to this news, the upcoming holiday special "Resolution of the Daleks" was filmed before this announcement about Season 13 of Doctor Who. Though it doesn't say so explicitly, I would think that since the holiday special isn't a part of Season 13, that means there are actually 9 more episodes of Doctor Who on the way as of November. Hey, with how 2020 has gone, it's always good to show a little optimism.
This is the latest official news we have on Doctor Who's future, which is rumored to undergo a massive casting shakeup. There have been whisperings for months that Bradley Walsh (Graham) and Tosin Cole (Ryan) will be written off the show in the holiday special. That would leave Mandip Gil's Yaz as the Doctor's sole companion if so, but as of writing, we have no idea if this is being planned for the special or not. We only have an episode count, and hopefully not too much longer to wait for that holiday special!
For those missing out on Doctor Who, episodes of the BBC America series can be found on HBO Max. Continue to stick with CinemaBlend for more on the series, and for more news happening in the world of television and movies.
