'Doctor Who' Fans Get More Devastating News Amid Uncertainty Around Future Seasons

Please find your seat in the TARDIS, this next news may hurt a bit. The 2005 series ofDoctor Who, which rebooted the long-running science fiction franchise, is leaving its HBO Max home for some non-UK audiences, namely in the US, according to JustWatch. The news comes asuncertainty grows for the future of the Disney+ seriesafter the conclusion of Season 2 back in May. Fans sawNcuti Gatwa’s shocking departure, with the Doctor regenerating intoBillie Piper, confirming a longstanding leak.Doctor Whowill leave HBO Max on July 31.

The 2005 series ran until 2021, with the conclusion ofJodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor era. The series saw iterations of the Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth, and Thirteenth Doctors. They were played byChristopher Eccleston,David Tennant,Matt Smith,Peter Capaldi, and Whittaker. The series picked back up on Disney+, with Tennant returning as the Fourteenth Doctor for the 60thAnniversary Specials, before his character ultimately regenerated into Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor.

Your Favorite Doctors' Journeys Continue in Audio Drama

There’s been no official word on where the series will move to after it leaves HBO Max at the end of July. If you don’t own the physical copies of the science fiction series, there is not currently a way to even rent the full run of the 2005 series on another streamer. If that leaves you without your favorite Doctor, there’s always audio dramas. For more than two decades, Big Finish has produced audio dramas that expand the stories of fan-favorite Doctor Who characters, whether that be David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor,Alex Kingston’s River Song, orMichelle Gomez’s Missy. The platform most recently debuted new adventures of Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor alongsideMandip Gil’s Yasmin Khan, giving fans just a little more time with #Thasmin.

The world ofDoctor Whoas a whole is huge, outside the television show, with books, comics, video games, etc. With Big Finish, it also brings together characters who never interacted on screen in ways only fans may have once dreamed about. While on a panel earlier this year,moderated by Collider’sMaggie Lovitt, Kingston expressed her interest in doing a bigger audio drama. “I was just thinking it would be so great to, you know…do a sort of like a story with all of you, with the companions.” Fans have seen companions from different Doctors interact before, even forming a support group, but maybe it’s time to bring that concept back (though River Song leading a companion support group could go to the wayside fast, but isn’t the comedy potential of that half the fun?)