'Doctor Who' Season 14 Begins Production; Feature-Length Regeneration Planned

When Russell T. Davies was announced in 2021 to be returning to Doctor Who as showrunner after a decade away from the franchise, it shocked the Whovian fandom. While some were less thrilled to perceive the franchise as going backward (or who weren't fans of Davies' first tenure), most of the fandom revealed in what they saw as the franchise coming home. But Davies' return so far hasn't heralded a rewinding of the series to its pre-2010 state. It's come with many changes, including new people in charge at the top.

That changing of the guard from a BBC-led production schedule to one led by Bad Wolf under the Sony umbrella has already produced one significant alteration of how things are done. Filming for Season 14 is already underway. Typically, this would not happen until after the new Doctor was announced. Fans are used to the BBC conducting an extensive search, months and months of rumors of who had been cast as the next Doctor, leaks, corrections, and finally a TV special that usually upended whatever fans thought was about to happen, with the new actor introduced.

With the sole exception of David Tennant's taking on the role of the 10th Doctor (which was only a few weeks after the reboot premiered), that's how it's always gone. Matt Smith was announced in January 2009; filming began on Season 5 that summer. Peter Capaldi was announced in mid-2013, and Season 8 started filming in early 2014; Jodie Whittaker was likewise introduced in July 2017 and filming started late that fall. But Davies is going in entirely new directions, filming at Bad Wolf Studios in Cardiff, a much larger and complex studio than the BBC one it leaves behind. And kicking off filming without telling anyone who the new lead is.