Why Doctor Who's Disney Partnership Ended After 21 Episodes

When the BBC announced earlier this week that its "Doctor Who" partnership with Disney+ had officially ended, some longtime fans received this as good news. The pairing always felt awkward, and the two seasons of the 62-year-old show that the outlets jointly produced were far from the series' best. While most felt Ncuti Gatwa was a worthy Fifteenth Doctor, the episodes were simply too uneven in quality, emphasizing visual spectacle over the inventive writing that has always been the series' strong suit.

Nothing save for production value is being lost here. The BBC will once again have sole ownership of the "Doctor Who" franchise, which, it has assured the fandom, isn't going anywhere (though it will be a long wait for that 2026 Christmas special). Still, it's hard not to be at least a little curious about Disney's decision to cut bait on the series. At one point, the company seemed genuinely enthusiastic about expanding the brand and attracting new fans. Now, three years later, it's moving on without so much as a press release. According to Deadline, there were multiple factors that caused the Mouse House to call it quits on its "Doctor Who" experiment. Most of them are understandable. One, if true, is utterly infuriating.

"Doctor Who" boasts one of the most passionate and loyal fanbases in entertainment, one that expanded significantly when Russell T. Davies took over showrunning duties in 2005. I always found it odd that Disney thought it could build it out further, if only because the Davies iteration had been readily available to people all over the world via broadcast and streaming prior to Disney's BBC deal, but I was hopeful that one of the smarter sci-fi series out there could catch on with more mainstream viewers.

While one Disney source told The Times of London that "a lot of marketing muscle" was put into making the show a worldwide success, one "Doctor Who" insider refuted this to Deadline. "The writing has been on the wall for ages," they said. "There has been a complete lack of enthusiasm over at Disney."

Some of this could be attributed to the timing of the deal, which was struck before Bob Iger returned to the studio. Iger immediately curtailed spending, which Deadline claims impacted "Doctor Who," as there was already a sense that the company had spent too much money ($8.5 million) on the show's budget. The series' fortunes were further jeopardized due to its poor performance on Disney+, where it failed to register so much as a blip on the streaming charts compiled by Nielsen and Luminate. Even worse, the show shed one million viewers in the UK between Jodie Whitaker's final season and Gatwa's first.

Which brings us to the one explanation for the Disney+ run's failure that should anger anyone with a conscience.

Ncuti Gatwa is an openly gay man, and, thus, the Fifteenth Doctor was written as queer. This shouldn't be anything close to an issue in 2025, but one Disney insider told Deadline that a queer Doctor was "too woke for Trump's USA." This is ludicrous. Donald Trump is a remarkably unpopular president, and there is an overwhelming majority of people in the U.S. who have no issue with depictions of queerness in entertainment. It's absurd that I even have to write this. Besides, the kinds of bigots who object to homosexuality aren't likely to watch a sci-fi show like this to begin with.

Gatwa left "Doctor Who" after two seasons citing exhaustion as a primary factor in his decision, but one source believes that some members of the fanbase were disenchanted with the actor due to his lack of commitment to the role. "There is more to that role than performing," they said. "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."

I think it's rotten to blame Gatwa for the show's viewership woes because, again, most fans felt the last two seasons simply weren't up to snuff. If there's any one person who deserves blame here, it could be Davies, who's rumored to leave the series after the 2026 Christmas special. Maybe he's burned out. In the meantime, fans will at least have the spin-off series "The War Between the Land and the Sea" to tide them over, while the BBC "Doctor Who" braintrust will have ample time to regroup and retool. There's no reason to believe this is more than a bump in the road for the sci-fi institution.