EXCLUSIVE: Dana Walden was in London earlier this month, but it’s safe to say that renewing Doctor Who was not among the Disney entertainment chief’s priorities. Sources have been telling Deadline for more than a year that Disney has been lukewarm on the sci-fi series, and by Tuesday afternoon, it was official: the BBC confirmed that its Doctor Who co-production agreement had vaporized.
What was conceived as a plan to Marvel-ize the franchise did not translate into a big bang. Instead, the partnership has died with a whimper — with Disney not even putting out a statement to mark its passing. So what doomed the Doctor Who deal, and what comes next?
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Deadline has spoken to multiple sources in Doctor Who‘s orbit, who say the Disney deal fell apart for a variety of reasons, including concerns over the Ncuti Gatwa show’s failure to breakout from its established fan base and its big-ticket budget. Others suspect that fears of a “woke” backlash may be a factor, as Doctor Who has embraced diverse storytelling under showrunner Russell T Davies.
“It Wasn’t For The Long Term”
“It was pretty apparent from early on that this wasn’t for the long term,” says a former Disney executive. “Everyone got the impression that it wasn’t doing what it needed to do [on Disney+] to be sustained.” Another person close to Doctor Who adds: “The writing has been on the wall for ages. There has been a complete lack of enthusiasm over at Disney.”
Announced in October 2022, Disney’s agreement to co-produce Doctor Who was inked at the height of the streaming wars, just weeks before Bob Iger walked back into the building and started scaling back spending. It was hailed at the time as an “unprecedented” pact bringing together “two giants of entertainment,” but the ex-Disney insider says they soon detected regret at spending so much on Doctor Who. The show’s budget was between £6M ($8.5M) and £8M per episode, we understand, putting the value of the deal at as much as £168M.
The former Mouse House employee notes a lack of marketing firepower behind the brand — nowhere near the might of brands like Marvel or Star Wars — creating something of a chicken-and-egg scenario whereby it became harder for Doctor Who to cut through to American audiences. “It certainly wasn’t being shouted about as a big success,” adds this person.
An executive at BBC Studios, which owns Doctor Who and oversees international sales, says “it never felt like Disney were making much of a deal” about the iconic sci-fi series, which has been on British screens for more than 60 years. Disney sources have countered this, with one telling The Times of London that “a lot of marketing muscle” was put behind the show.
Ratings Flop
Doctor Who‘s performance has been far from stellar in the U.S. This year’s season failed to register in Nielsen and Luminate’s streaming charts. Meanwhile, the Entertainment Strategy Guy blog branded Doctor Who‘s debut on Disney as one of the “flops” of 2024. There was also a serious lack of awards buzz around the series, which only managed one Primetime Emmy nomination (for Outstanding Choreography for Scripted Programming in 2025) during its time on Disney+.
On the BBC, it has seen an alarming drop-off in viewing figures. Season 15 averaged 3.8M viewers, according to gold-standard 28-day viewing figures from Barb, the UK’s official ratings agency. This represents a decline of 1M on the prior season, the first starring Gatwa and produced by Jane Tranter’s Bad Wolf. Both Gatwa seasons were down on Jodie Whittaker’s concluding season in 2021 (watched by 5.2M people), a period that was not considered to be vintage Doctor Who. “The ratings were not up to much,” someone involved in the series ruefully acknowledges.
While BBC drama boss Lindsay Salt thanked Disney for “being terrific global partners,” the Mouse House was not nearly as glowing, with a spokesperson simply confirming the BBC statement and noting that Gatwa’s seasons will remain on Disney+ outside the UK for the time being. Sources tell us that the BBC and Disney had initially planned to make a statement about Doctor Who‘s future after the premiere of spin-off series, The War Between the Land and the Sea, but Disney moved the announcement up.
“They’ve clearly sat down and made a final decision in the past week or so, but it’s been on the cards for a very long time,” says Tony Jordan, who runs the Doctor Who Appreciation Society and speaks to the show’s fanbase every day.
Jordan says Whovians believe Gatwa’s seasons have been patchy. “There were some strong episodes in both, but the two-part finales were not particularly well regarded,” he explains. “A lack of episodes made it difficult for audiences to get to know Ncuti and his companions to really develop their storylines.”
Gatwa’s experience felt somewhat fraught. He left after two seasons and later blamed burnout, with the 33-year-old saying he was “getting old and my body was tired.” A Doctor Who source says the show suffered because Gatwa never fully embraced the role. “There is more to that role than performing,” this person says. “You have got to be an ambassador for the brand and embrace being that generation’s Doctor. Matt Smith and David Tennant fully understood the responsibility it carried.”
Another well-placed industry source says Doctor Who became “too woke for Trump’s USA,” and this was “a factor in Disney minds” when it came to a renewal. Under writer Davies, the series has cast transgender actress Yasmin Finney, featured drag queen Jinkx Monsoon as a villain, and played host to a historic gay kiss between Gatwa and Jonathan Groff — some of which drew complaints from BBC viewers.
Disney is incredibly unlikely to ever admit that politics were a factor in Doctor Who‘s cancellation, but Jimmy Kimmel’s brief suspension was revealing of the company’s desire to minimize MAGA wrath. With Davies yet to commit to showrunning future seasons, it’s possible that Doctor Who could have dialed down diversity under a Disney renewal, but the fact remains that celebrating difference has always been part of the show’s DNA.
‘Doctor Who’s Post-Disney Reset
Season 15 concluded on an ambiguous note, with Gatwa regenerating into Billie Piper’s Rose Tyler, a Doctor Who companion of yesteryear. Jordan speculates that this will be temporary, and Davies will use the just-announced 2026 Christmas special to tie up some loose ends.
Beyond that, Jordan thinks fresh blood might be required. “Nothing says that Russell will be showrunner from 2027 onwards,” he adds. “It might be time for a new showrunner to take it forwards.”
Committing to a Christmas special that is still 15 months away buys the BBC time to ponder how to push on now that it has lost a hefty chunk of its Doctor Who budget. “It can be a reset and buys everyone time to make decisions,” was how it was characterized by someone close to the series.
The former Disney executive reckons the BBC will be able to spend at most £2.5M to £3M per episode, which could work out at around £1M per episode from the BBC’s own pocket and any additional coming from a BBC Studios distribution advance in what is a tricky market for drama funding. That would see Doctor Who‘s budget slashed by around a half from the Disney days.
“Once you’ve gone up, it’s always difficult to go back down,” the source says. “You can cut budgets to a certain degree but not by so much. Is the BBC really going to stump up even more for something showing decline?”
Others point out that some of Davies’ cheaper episodes were his best, such as Season 14’s “73 Yards,” which was praised by critics and Whovians. “Budget limitations used to help the idiosyncrasies of the show,” adds an executive who used to work on Doctor Who. “Big budgets can cause a problem — a huge variety of voices tend to push towards the mediocre — but then the budget was nowhere near as big as [shows like] The Mandalorian, so they were stuck in the middle. You can have planets, flying cars, and robots, but ultimately you are always going to get better versions elsewhere.”
Finding another American buyer for Doctor Who will be tough going, the ex-Disney source adds, while striking “piecemeal” deals across Europe and Latin America may prove difficult for a show that is ultimately quintessentially British. “How do you suddenly convince a buyer to take Doctor Who when it hasn’t been on their platform for so long?” the source questions.
But it is still possible. We understand that prior to Disney+ and the BBC striking the co-pro deal, an alternative option was presented to then-BBC drama boss Piers Wenger, which would have raised up to £5M an episode without input from a big American player. This plan could yet be revisited.
The BBC Studios executive strikes a positive tone and thinks big American buyers are still in play, pointing to the $1B Taylor Sheridan NBCUniversal deal as proof that the media giants are willing to pay big bucks. “I could make a case for any streamer wanting to create a foothold in a world with a pre-existing fanbase,” he adds. “If I’m Paramount right now, I’m losing Taylor Sheridan in 2029, and so am thinking about IP. What else can I buy for my streamer? They must be putting their heads together.”
Coincidentally, Doctor Who’s first 13 seasons have recently come off HBO Max in the U.S., meaning a deal could be done for the entire series. Our BBC Studios insider argues that Disney’s indifference towards Doctor Who may prove to be a blessing in disguise. “I don’t think in the States there is a real association with Doctor Who and Disney, except for the fact that the past two seasons were on Disney+. We’re talking about a show that has re-launched many different times and shown up in many different places.”
Salt, the BBC drama boss, also gestured to the timeless quality of the show, reassuring fans that “the Tardis remains at the heart of the BBC.” This ability to regenerate has always been central to Doctor Who lore, so who would bet against Disney simply being a fleeting passenger in the Time Lord’s travels through space and time?
Disney, BBC Studios and the BBC declined comment.
Katie Campione contributed to this report.