5
Credit: Inside the MagicDisney just introduced the Fifteenth Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) to audiences around the world, but he may not stick around for long as reports indicate that the Mouse is already preparing to kill off the Doctor Who franchise.
‘Disney’ and ‘Doctor Who’
In 2022, it was announced that the BBC and The Walt Disney Company had made a deal to stream (and co-produce) the series on Disney+ (outside of the UK and Ireland), officially bringing Doctor Who into the greater Mouse family.
While some traditionalist Whovians immediately feared the “Disneyfication” of the Time Lord, the return of Russell T Davies as showrunner and a few specials featuring fan-favorite actor David Tennant did a lot to mollify them.
Currently, Ncuti Gatwa stars as the Fifteenth Doctor alongside new companion Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson), with his first batch of episodes having just concluded in June and a Christmas special scheduled for December.
The critical reception for Gatwa’s new portrayal of the Doctor has been overwhelmingly positive. The newest run of the series currently holds a near-perfect 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, with the New York Times opining, “Disney may be in the early phases of transforming the BBC show much as it has done with other I.P., like Star Wars, which grew into an ever-expanding franchise at the expense of the original product.”
However, new reports are indicating that Disney might not be all that interested in continuing its journey with Doctor Who and may, in fact, be looking to kill its deal with the BBC.
Related: ‘Gravity Falls,’ ‘Owl House,’ and ‘Doctor Who’ Keep Disney Weird
“Disney Will Want to See Results”
Although critics may be loving the new Disney+ Doctor Who with Ncuti Gatwa, Deadline reports that the Mouse House and fans are significantly less enthused. Despite the presence of Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat, fan reception to the Disney+ Doctor Who has been mixed.
Doctor Who Appreciation Society Co-ordinator Tony Jordan describes the consensus as “[A] mixed bag. When Russell’s return was announced, I thought, ‘That’s fantastic,’ but maybe I remembered the good stuff and chose to forget the not-so-good stuff. His track record of ending seasons with two-parters has been widely varying in success, for example.”
Even more importantly, it turns out that Disney might not be seeing the kind of results it wants from a co-production and licensing deal that reportedly cost some $100 million.
The viewership numbers for new Doctor Who episodes on Disney+ are far lower than for the Jodie Whittaker-era episodes, and the latest series peaked at number seven on the most-watched streaming series on the platform, easily outperformed by even the weakest Star Wars series and The Simpsons (per Parrot Analytics).
An anonymous industry source says, “The ratings are a problem. They can talk all they like about young viewers but they’re still down from the specials and down from the Jodie [Whittaker] series. I imagine serious conversations are happening. Disney will want to see results.”
One of the main issues is that while Disney has spent millions marketing Doctor Who to American audiences, it simply does not have the cultural weight of Star Wars or even a newcomer like Percy Jackson. Reportedly, internal Disney sources are calling the new series’ performance “underwhelming” and “okay but not stellar,” which is not what anyone wants to hear about the results of a $100 million deal.
Related: Disney Drops ‘Doctor Who’: Space Babies, Bogeymen, and Beyond
Doctor Who magazine Jason Quinn says, “When Doctor Who came back in [2005] having been off the air since the late ’80s, it wasn’t a massive overnight success, and there wasn’t Doctor Who mania immediately…I think it will grow. I would imagine Disney will want to remain involved.”
Less optimistic sources think that Disney may already be looking to kill its deal with the BBC. They say the company will “need to make a decision” rapidly before new series go into production and that “Given that Disney has spent all of this money, the question becomes what the BBC will do if they pull out.”
Disney has been canceling Marvel and Star Wars projects left and right in a mad dash to save as much money as possible. If that’s how it treats its own IP, the likelihood of it killing off Doctor Who seems very, very high.
Have you watched the latest Doctor Who series?