Former Doctor Who writer, Mark Gatiss, has questioned the official line that Fifteenth Doctor actor, Ncuti Gatwa, was always due to only film two series, but is seemingly intrigued by the cliffhanger to The Reality War.

Gatiss, whose first episode was The Unquiet Dead in 2005 and has since written stories like The Crimson Horror and Empress of Mars, has mulled over the possibility that Gatwa might’ve initially been pencilled in for further series. He says:

“Russell [T Davies, writer and showrunner] does chutzpah like no one else. I don’t know much about what happened, if Ncuti Gatwa was going to do three years, but only did two — it was certainly a surprise that he was going, wasn’t it?

“It’s like the ultimate cliffhanger, isn’t it?

“It’s like Sherlock in The Reichenbach Fall. It’s like, well, this is a big one. And I mean, in a funny kind of way, it absolutely bookends the 2005 new show onwards — it’s all about Billie! And then guess what?! So I haven’t a clue. I know there’s a Christmas special this year, isn’t there? And after that, who knows?”

It’s been said that Gatwa was only ever going to do two seasons as the Doctor, but many have asked whether that’s actually true, given all the early talk of him staying on and the reshot ending of his last episode — not to mention the rumours that he only left to pursue other career opportunities thanks to Disney’s indecision about continuing the programme.

We get the impression Gatiss is simply trying to be nice and that he’s implying what everybody really knows — that The Reality War became something of a dog’s dinner after Gatwa left and Piper was added in last minute — but doesn’t want to talk too much about it. And that’s understandable: in fairness, Davies is his friend and Gatiss probably doesn’t know much about the series’ future.

“Ultimate cliffhanger” is pushing it, though the idea things have come full circle is a nice one at least.