Doctor Who’s New Showrunner Teases Bold New Direction

Doctor Who fans are in for a world of change as the series transitions from its tenth to the eleventh season. Peter Capaldi will be replaced in the role of the Doctor and Steven Moffat is turning the position of showrunner over to Broadchurch creator Chris Chibnall, a former Doctor Who and Torchwood writer.

As Chibnall comes on board, fans should expect Doctor Who to undergo a change in style and tone that is at least as drastic as when Moffat took over from former showrunner Russell T. Davies, a change so drastic even Chibnall himself was surprised that the BBC agreed to it so readily.

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“I finally said yes because I love the show to my bones. I resisted it for a very long time, and [the BBC] really had to woo me,” Chibnall tells Royal Television Society. “But, in the end, I had ideas about what I wanted to do with it. When I went to them and said, ‘This is what I would do’, I actually expected them to say, ‘Ooh, let’s talk about that’, but they said: ‘Great!’”

Chibnall hinted that it is possible that his Doctor Who will be built on the single season-long story model that he’s used with Broadchurch.

“Yes. What the BBC was after was risk and boldness,” Chibnall says, though the BBC did stop him short of simply killing the Doctor in the first episode. “Ha! Then the title would really make sense.”

Chibnall is a longtime Doctor Who fans who also wrote for the series during the Russell T. Davies era and was head writer on the Doctor Who spinoff series Torchwood. He is taking over for Steven Moffat, who has run Doctor Who since the show’s fifth season.

Next: Doctor Who Showrunner Says Peter Capaldi’s Regeneration Will Be Something Different

Capaldi, who took over as The Doctor in Season 8 following Matt Smith’s departure, will leave the show after three seasons. Moffat has teased that Capaldi’s regeneration will be something different from what Doctor Who fans have come to expect.

Doctor Who Season 10, which is currently airing, introduced Pearl Mackie as the new companion, Bill Potts, replacing the previous companion, Jenna Coleman’s Clara Oswald, who left after Season 9. Whether Mackie will join the new Doctor in Doctor Who Season 11 is still unknown.

Doctor Who Season 10 is currently airing Saturdays at 9 p.m. ET on BBC America.