San Diego Comic-Con may have been virtual this year, but that didn’t stop the BBC from dropping some exciting and surprising Doctor Who news! Besides unveiling the first teaser for Season 13, showrunner Chris Chibnall revealed that Season 13 will be one cohesive story, with each episode representing a different chapter:
“The big thing we’re going to be doing this year is that it’s all one story – so every episode is a chapter in a bigger story. And so we’ve changed the shape of the series for this year.”
Chibnall cites the COVID-19 pandemic as the reason for this new direction for the 13th Time Lord. With the decision that this season would only be 6 episodes, the showrunner decided to go big or go home:
“Before we started making it, there were times when we thought we were going to be unable to do the show under Covid conditions this year… there were two ways you could go. You could go ‘let’s do lots of tiny little episodes in one room, with no monsters,’ or we could throw down the gauntlet and do the biggest story we’ve ever done. We’re going to go to all kinds of different places, we’re going to have all kinds of characters and monsters, and it’s all going to be part of a bigger whole. It’s definitely the most ambitious thing we’ve done since we’ve been on the series.”
Long-time Whovians are aware that this isn’t a new concept for the show. Doctor Who episodes from the ‘classic’ series were almost always packaged as multi-episode serials. It wasn’t until the reboot in 2005 that the series primarily focused on single episode stories with a secondary overall arc that would be hinted throughout the season (think the “Bad Wolf” story arc with the 9th Doctor, Donna Noble’s story with the 10th Doctor, or the ‘Pandorica” story arc with the 11th Doctor).
The Doctor Who spinoff Torchwood also dabbled in the single serialized story format. Season Three’s “Children of Earth” consisted of 5 episodes and is lauded as a highpoint of the series (even though it did traumatize many Torchwood fans with the death of a major character in Captain Jack’s life.) The series returned to the format in Torchwood: Miracle Day which was received with less than admirable reviews.
Although no details have been released on what the Season 13 story will be, Jodie Whittaker teased that some familiar monster will return, saying she is “excited for our amazing Whovians to see some incredible interactions with old monsters.”
No specific date has been set for Season 13, but it’s expected to premiere sometime this year.
Are you excited for more Doctor Who? Let us know in the comments, and if you missed the virtual Doctor Who panel from ComicCon@Home, you can watch it below!
