At the Gallifrey One convention, producer, Tracie Simpson has revealed that Doctor Who Series 13 will begin filming in September 2020. While this is yet to be confirmed by the BBC, it’s in line with rumours that it’d begin shooting in Autumn 2020.
Furthermore, Simpson added that pre-production would begin in June 2020.
All we know so far is that Jodie Whittaker will return as the Thirteenth Doctor, and showrunner, Chris Chibnall has started working on scripts for this third season at the show’s helm. And we don’t know which, if any, of the companions will make it through Ascension of the Cybermen/ The Timeless Children alive.
Further speculation says that the series will be transmitted around a year after filming begins – i.e. in Autumn 2021 on BBC1 and BBC America. Some fans are interpreting this as a hiatus, while others argue that the show has averaged out around one series every 18 months (ish) since its 2005 return but that its scheduling before now has meant it hasn’t felt quite so long. Certainly while Russell T. Davies was in charge, the show aired yearly (between 2005 and 2008), with a year of specials in 2009. This was mainly maintained until Series 7, which was split between 2012 and 2013.
After Series 12 concludes, you won’t have to wait until Autumn 2021 until the next episode airs – there’s a special confirmed for sometime in the interim, likely around Christmastime. It looks as if the Daleks will be back in that special – mainly because we’ve seen them on location. We’ve been assured no Daleks will be in Series 12; but we know showrunners lie. For instance, Chibnall says of Series 11:
“There are no [Daleks in Series 11]! I don’t know how many times I need to say it. There are no old monsters this series. OK? I think, you can’t as a showrunner coming in, you can’t really define it against the past. Like, that’s what [the press] will do, but it’s actually not for me to come in and go, ‘Where am I going to place this in relation to the Hartnell era, or the Hinchcliffe era, or Peter Davison.’ It’s not about that. It’s about going ‘Ah, what stories do I want to tell? What’s happening in the world? What’s happening in film and television? And how does Doctor Who sit at the forefront of that?’ I just wanted us to feel like we were moving forward.”
Yep, no returning monsters at all. Except the Daleks did return in Resolution – technically, the special was disconnected from Series 11, so his lie wasn’t a total lie, except most fans see Resolution as the conclusion of Series 11 anyway.
Doctor Who Series 12 continues with Ascension of the Cybermen on Sunday.
