But we could be waiting a while longer as producer [Jane] Tranter has confirmed that, once the 26 episodes that Disney initially commissioned have aired (which include the spin-off), “then, and only then, does Disney+ have to make a decision about whether or not they want to do more”.
She added to The Royal Television Society: “I imagine, at a time when Disney are having huge cuts themselves, and there have been slashes in programme budgets, they’re looking to take their time to balance everything out and decide what they want to do."
However, she went on to say: “At its heart, it’s a BBC show and it will keep going, one way or another."
I’d have to assume the Disney deal is dead at this point, if they had any interest in still making the show at all I can’t see why they’d jam it up like this.
TBH I kind of hope it just goes back to the BBC and they carry on by themselves with a reduced budget instead of looking for new co-producers. The Disney deal seemed to bring nothing but trouble as far as I can see.
I don’t think it’s controversial to say that the Disney deal has ultimately been a bust - I thought it was a good idea at the time, and I’m among those who think the “new” series has been creatively fine, more or less, but there’s just too much uncertainty.
Unfortunately, the BBC seems to be in a bit of a state right now, as well…
Yeah I’m kind of the same, overall I’ve quite enjoyed the latest era, bar a few odd decisions (e.g. why Space Babies was allowed to even be made at all, let alone be the season opener) but overall I’m enjoying it much more than the Chibnall era.
And definitely agree about the uncertainty. I don’t know much about the inner workings of the TV industry, but there seems to be a thing at the moment where every TV show takes 2-3 years to produce about 8 episodes for some reason, and it’s really stopping a lot of shows dead in their tracks. I wish they’d figure that out so we could at least get back to consistent schedules.
We’ve also had cases where the shows are produced in a reasonable amount of time, but the streamers sit on them for months. Over in Trekland, the new Starfleet Academy show wrapped its first season back in February, and has started filming the second season…but that first season won’t see the light of day until early 2026.