Russell T Davies Has Started Thinking About His Doctor Who Successor

Ncuti Gatwa’s second season as the Fifteenth Doctor gets underway April 12, but Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies has already started to think beyond that. And this time, it’s in refreshing contrast to recent rumors (denied by the BBC) that the show may not return if it doesn’t deliver strong ratings—though it is still sad to ponder for Davies fans, because it involves who’ll take up the showrunner mantle after he leaves.

As reported by Radio Times and CBR, Davies was a recent guest on David Tennant Does a Podcast With…, hosted by the Tenth and Fourteenth Doctor himself—a longtime collaborator with Davies, who showran Doctor Who from 2005-2010 (encompassing the Tenth Doctor) and returned to the job in 2023 (encompassing the Fourteenth Doctor). Though the two pals joked that Davies’ second run will be his last, with positively no third on the horizon, they also talked about what will happen when Davies moves on from the show.

“I will need to slow down at some point,” he admitted. “That’ll come.” However, as a confirmed fan and dedicated reader of Doctor Who Magazine, “I’ll never put Doctor Who down completely.”

With regards to a successor, he said, “Last time it was Steven Moffat [who replaced me], that wasn’t even a day’s work, it was like, ‘Right, off you go!’”

Aside from Moffat, who held the post from 2010-2017, there’s only been one other showrunner since Doctor Who‘s return: Chris Chibnall, who oversaw the run of Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor from 2018-2022.

Davies’ replacement, even without any speculation as to who it might be, is on his mind. “There’s thinking about that, there’s conversations about that, but it’s hard. It’s a tricky one,” he said. “But [my replacement] better exist… imagine, I’m dead at the desk. The cliché would kill me! Oh my god.” (He also jokingly fan-cast Tim Robbins to play him in his biopic, if that ever happens.)

Doctor Who returns to Disney+ and the BBC (depending what part of the world you live in) April 12; so far, there’s no word on subsequent seasons or even a special Christmas episode, as is tradition, for 2025.

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