Doctor Who Season 11 Spoilers And Teases: Everything We Know
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The 2018 San Diego Comic-Con was a massive event for fans of Doctor Who. For the first time ever, fans were introduced to Jodie Whittaker as the newest Doctor--and the first woman to take on the role. Whittaker's arrival comes hand-in-hand with Broadchurch creator Chris Chibnall taking over as showrunner on the long-running BBC series.
Both were on-hand, along with the rest of the cast and executive producer Matt Stevens, to speak with the press and meet fans at Comic-Con. Beyond that, they also introduced the first full trailer for Season 11, which showed fans the Doctor, her new "best friends," and some of the trouble they'll all be getting into.
Of course, they were also there to give a few hints as to what Season 11 of Doctor Who will entail. However, Chibnall made sure not too many spoilers were shared.
However, it sounds like there are some major changes ahead for Doctor Who, which will attempt to refresh the series with a new creative team and cast driving it forward. As the Doctor, herself, says in the trailer, "All of this is new to me. New faces. New worlds. New times."
What can you expect from the new season of Doctor Who? GameSpot attended the show's press conference at San Diego Comic-Con to see what, exactly, the cast and producers had to say.
Doctor Who Season 11 will premiere later this year on BBC America.
Every version of the Doctor is quite different from the one that came before it and the 13th incarnation will be no different. "Being the first woman to play the Doctor is incredibly liberating," Whittaker said. "Ask any of the previous Doctors, the rules are out of the window, because the most wonderful thing is you regenerate. So you can bring everything new, everything from previous, you can make it your own and stay loyal to it, and casting a woman doesn't change that."
One major difference will obviously be the Doctor's accent. While Capaldi used his Scottish accent in the role, Whittaker speaks with a Yorkshire accent that will carry over to the Doctor.
Image: BBC America/Getty Images
2. The show will not avoid historic gender issues.
In many of the Doctor's adventures, the Time Lord ends up visiting a period where women aren't exactly treated equally. Should such a situation arise, the show's creative team won't ignore it.
"The Doctor's still the Doctor and in some situations, I would agree there's gender issues, and I think particularly when we go into history that might come up," Chibnall teased. "But I think generally, in contemporary worlds, alien worlds, stuff like that, the Doctor's still the Doctor and the Doctor's very capable of walking into a room."
3. A companion by any other name...
You might have noticed that promotional materials reference the companions as the Doctor's "friends." For Chibnall, that choice is a very conscious one that speaks to who the new Doctor is.
"It just feels a bit more natural to me and to us," the showrunner said. "I'm sure you wouldn't walk into a room and go, 'Hello. I'm so-and-so and these are my companions!'' You'd walk in and say, 'This is me and me mates.'' And it probably speaks a little bit to the 13th Doctor's kind of egalitarian[ism]. She's got a gang of mates with her. But it just feels a bit more emotionally connecting contemporary language. But it's in no way rule for Whovians from now on."
4. The 11th season won't be relying on old villains.
While there is still plenty of time for Whittaker's Doctor to encounter Daleks, the Ood, and any number of other classic Doctor Who villains, Season 11 is striving for originality. "It's pretty much all new stories, all new monsters, all new villains," Chibnall said. "I think we're working on two weeks from the end of filming? I haven't come across any old villains yet."
5. Season 11 is mostly standalone episodes.
If you're hoping for massive cliffhangers and story arcs taking place over multiple episodes, this might not be the season for you. "This is gonna be for the fans, for the Whovians, Season 11 is for them," Chibnall promised. "But it's also for anyone who hasn't seen it. You don't need encyclopedic knowledge and a history of Doctor Who to be included in this journey, and we've got ten standalone episodes that have huge character arcs for all of those guys. But if you came in at Episode 4, this is an adventure in Episode 4. You don't need the fifty-odd year history to go with it, which I think is exciting for us, and often less daunting for us, because we know what's going on."
Image: BBC America/Getty Images
6. What if there isn't a TARDIS?
As you might remember from the Season 10 finale, the TARDIS blew up. What does that mean for the new Doctor's adventures? While the blue phone box can be seen in promotional materials for the show, Chibnall remains steadfast that it's been destroyed and can't be part of the show.
"The TARDIS exploded," he exclaimed when asked how its design would change for the new Doctor. Let's be honest, though. The Doctor without a TARDIS? It'll never happen.
7. The diversity isn't just in front of the camera.
While the Doctor is being portrayed by a woman for the first time ever, and actors of color are filling the roles of the Time Lord's companions, the diversity isn't just on-screen.
"We have the [series'] first writers of color," executive producer Matt Stevens says of the writing team. "We've two female writers and three male writers in the guest writers' slots. And we have a split as well. We have two female directors and two male directors across the series."
Image: BBC America/Getty Images
8. Of course, there's a Christmas special in the works.
While it hasn't been announced, what's Doctor Who without an annual Christmas special? Thankfully, Chibnall heavily hinted at a holiday installment of the show. "Well, we seem to be filming 11 episodes, man. But we're talking a series of ten," he joked. "I would definitely think there's another episode after the end of the series."