'Doctor Who' Season 11 Is In For Some Major Changes

Doctor Who is set to wrap up Season 10 this week, but with all the shakeups going on behind the scenes, fans may be wondering how long it'll take to hear more about next season. Peter Capaldi is ending his run as the Twelfth Doctor this year, a gig he's had since Season 8, and the show isn't planning to nail down the casting of a Thirteenth Doctor until the fall. So when does Doctor Who Season 11 premiere? No announcement has been made yet, but there are still a lot of transitions in the works before then.

The search for a new hero starts this summer and will reportedly be completed by the fall, but showrunner Stephen Moffat is also leaving the show. He's handing over the reins to Chris Chibnall, ex-showrunner on Broadchurch, who has also written five episodes of Doctor Who. Chibnall may have plans for a format shakeup, telling the Royal Television Society that he envisions one season-long storyline for Season 11 in place of Moffat's monster of the week format. He was initially resistant to the idea of taking over the show, but admitted that BBC eventually wooed him. "In the end, I had ideas about what I wanted to do with it," Chibnall stated. "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!'"

BBC has the show signed for at least five more seasons, so it seems like the network is committed to successfully transitioning the show between leaders and new Doctors. And following the Season 10 finale on July 1 viewers still have the Christmas special to look forward to this December, which will most likely serve as Capaldi's final episode. "I feel it's time to move on," Capaldi told BBC Radio of his Doctor Who exit. And even though his regeneration scenes haven't been worked out yet, he seems pretty set on a Christmas exit, dashing any hopes that fans might catch a glimpse of him early in Season 11.

According to Radio Times, filming on Season 11 is scheduled to start in early 2018, with the season premiere airing sometime in the fall. As for who might take over for the Doctor, names in the mix so far have mostly been idealistic pie-in-the-sky ideas. Eddie Redmayne is a much-discussed favorite, but he's admitted the shooting schedule is probably too grueling for him. Richard Madden, best known for portraying Robb Stark on Game of Thrones is another name that comes up, which is probably a little more realistic. While we'll probably have to wait until late next year for a Season 11 premiere, it looks like Whovians will definitely have some casting news before 2017 is over.