I Hope Doctor Who Season 15 Isn’t Repeating Its Controversial TARDIS Mystery From Ncuti Gatwa’s First Season

The Doctor Who season 15 trailer teases some really exciting episodes, but I’m also worried that Ncuti Gatwa’s second season as the show’s leading man is already retreading the same old ground as his inaugural run. The ending of Doctor Who season 14 wrapped up many of the mysteries that had permeated the beginning of the Disney era, even if some of the resolutions were less than satisfactory. However, there was one storyline in particular that I would, at best, describe as divisive. Weirdly, Russell T. Davies seems content to revisit a very similar arc.

Unlike Millie Gibson’s introduction as Ruby Sunday in 2023’s “The Church on Ruby Road”, the end of Doctor Who‘s 2024 Christmas special doesn’t really set up the next run of episodes. Thankfully, the show has still given us a preview of what Doctor Who season 15’s story will look like by providing a fast-paced compilation of clips from the coming installments. I’m thrilled at how original so much of it looks, but also apprehensive about one of the implied arcs. I could be wrong, but I get the impression I’ve seen it before – and very recently.

There Might Be Something Wrong With The TARDIS (Again) In Doctor Who Season 15

The Doctor tells Belinda they may need to take “the long way round”

One of Doctor Who season 14’s ongoing storylines was that there was something wrong with the Doctor’s TARDIS. It was nothing particularly obvious, but the occasional groans and malfunctions were enough to piece together the theory that the blue box wasn’t quite right. Perhaps one of the most significant clues was when the TARDIS refused to let Ruby enter in “73 Yards,” but I also think this was buried well enough in the episode’s lore that it was easy to sweep aside. Interesting though the arc was, Doctor Who season 15 teasing it again doesn’t do much for me.

The trailer for Gatwa’s second run shows Varada Sethu as Belinda Chandra stepping in to replace Ruby as the Doctor’s companion. Early into the teaser, Belinda demands the Doctor use the TARDIS to take her home, but the Time Lord quite clearly struggles to do so and explains to Sethu’s character that they may need to go “the long way round.” The implication is that there is an issue with the TARDIS, and if so, I’ll be a bit disappointed that Davies has already returned to a storyline that was quickly used and resolved in Doctor Who‘s Disney era.

Doctor Who Season 14’s Sutekh Reveal Proved Very Controversial

Sutekh’s return so many decades later didn’t have the impact I expected

Gatwa’s first season as the Doctor ultimately turned out to be a stealth sequel to Tom Baker’s “Pyramids of Mars” serial from 1975. Although season 14’s TARDIS issues initially seemed like a secondary storyline, the return of Gabriel Woolf as Sutekh brought the classic villain back in a very unexpected way. That being said, those with whom I’ve discussed the reveal of the One Who Waits’ true identity in Doctor Who season 14 largely seem quite divided on the quality of the writing. There have been some who loved it, those who hated it, and others who couldn’t decide.

Davies isn’t the kind of writer to react to criticism, and I respect the way he sticks to his vision. However, even if he did change course based on public opinion, he wouldn’t have had time to do so between Doctor Who seasons 14 and 15, as the upcoming season had already entered production even before Gatwa’s debut had aired. So, maybe Davies thought the TARDIS storyline would be a bigger hit than it ended up being – hence why he may be using the same blueprint going into this season. Unfortunately, only time will tell if it works or not.

The Doctor Being Unable To Navigate His TARDIS Could Be A Masterstroke

Davies could be taking Doctor Who back to its original rulebook

Despite Doctor Who‘s Disney era essentially being a soft relaunch of the franchise, Davies’ use of Sutekh and other references to the show’s classic and post-revival episodes prove he’s willing to acknowledge the wider canon rather than starting from scratch. So, making the TARDIS impossible to navigate could be another attempt to tie together Doctor Who‘s various eras. Fans of William Hartnell’s run as the First Doctor will know that he had only a slender grasp on how to fly the TARDIS, so Doctor Who season 15 could be one big callback to Hartnell’s time in the blue box.

For all the TARDIS’ mysterious symptoms in Doctor Who season 14, the Doctor’s time and space machine still operated as it always has. So, there was very little on the line until the Sutekh reveal in the two-part finale. I would love to see the TARDIS’ navigation systems genuinely compromised in Doctor Who season 15, leading to the Doctor landing pretty much anywhere in space and time without any control like in the show’s earliest years.