The Whoniverse is coming, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. With previous showrunner Russell T. Davies returning to head up Doctor Who—and with a bigger budget and a Disney+ distribution deal—the era of spinoffs has returned.
Which could (speaking as a great lover of Torchwood here—we don’t count that last season) be a good thing. But the first details we’re getting are a little odd. According to Deadline, BBC sources have confirmed that “One of those spin-offs will be based on military research organization UNIT and will star [Jemma] Redgrave as Kate Stewart.”
Kate Stewart is the best. But a military Who spinoff feels weird.
Yes, it’s a research unit, but UNIT frequently functions as security, as soldiers, and as an authority that can do things like, you know, have secret prisons. They often serve a narrative function in the series, a way for the Doctor to interface with Earth authorities and get backup (and there was that time he was stuck here, and stuck working with them). But do we need a whole show focused on them? When Clara and Me are still out there in their own TARDIS? When there’s a laundry list of companions whose own lives ought to be full of adventures?
Davies has been talking about spinoffs, plural, so anything else could be in the works. And at least it’s not a whole show about Daleks.
No further details on the timeline for the UNIT spinoff have been announced. Next up in the Whoniverse is this year’s still-ages-away Christmas special, which will introduce Ncuti Gatwa (above) as the fifteenth Doctor.
Buy the Book
Untethered Sky
