It is pretty much confirmed that Ncuti Gatwa was intending to make a third series, and a different ending to The Reality War was recorded more than a year ago. We would have seen a little more of Susan, as well as Belinda's father. Between October 2024, when he stated on the Graham Norton Show that he'd be filming a new series soon, and February 2025 when reshoots were mounted, something obviously happened to change his mind - for those reshoots were to include the regeneration.
Anyone who says it was all planned that he'd leave after just two years is being economical with the truth.
It looks like most of the Poppy stuff was only added as part of these new scenes, there to justify the Doctor's sacrifice.
All this might help to explain why the second half of the episode felt so disjointed.
It is also now widely believed that Piper isn't necessarily the new Doctor and that she's just there to hold the fort for a special or two before someone else is cast, or another regeneration is left open ended to allow for a much longer hiatus.
Theories about Piper are that she's the embodiment of the TARDIS, like Idris in The Doctor's Wife, or the Bad Wolf Rose, or even some sort of intermediate state like the Watcher in Logopolis.
The regeneration certainly didn't look right (the Doctor's face vanishes for a second - has he been hijacked and replaced?) and was it significant that they seemed to focus on the TARDIS console just before the change?
Piper herself spoke about being back on the TARDIS "one more time", which some people have taken literally as meaning a single episode, but I think that's reading too much into a phrase.
RTD2 has said: "How and why and who is a story yet to be told", whilst Piper said "...but who, how, why and when, you'll just have to wait and see". The inclusion of "who" in both statements can't be a coincidence.
Just to muddy things further, Piper also posted the cryptic "A rose is a rose is a rose" on Instagram following the reveal.
We knew Gatwa couldn't possibly commit to any new filming until at least October as he's appearing in the West End, but if Piper is available then they might just be able to give us something in 2026 - except there's still the business of the Disney partnership to be resolved... If Bad Wolf and the BBC have the money then they could push ahead with a special even without Disney input, or perhaps talks are already underway with an alternative streaming partner. I really can't see Disney not having already made up their mind about reinvesting in the show.
I don't know much about football but what I do know is that when a team is doing badly they sack the manager not the players! And yet here we are with RTD still in control! Who cares what he's hinting at!
ReplyDeleteLet' see if his substitution pays off, though he may have played it too late in the game...
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