After a trifecta of terrific 60th anniversary specials and a rip-roaring first series with Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson aboard the TARDIS, Doctor Who — the world's longest-running sci-fi series — is back and bigger than ever before. And returning showrunner Russell T. Davies' new-look Whoniverse is about to get even bigger. At the show's 'Into The Whoniverse' Comic-Con Hall H panel yesterday, RTD revealed that The War Between The Land And The Sea — an all-new Who spin-off series — is in the works, with Russell Tovey (Love Again) and Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Loki) set to star.
Tovey and Mbatha-Raw (who have, as eagle-eyed viewers may recall, graced the Whoniverse before as Alonso Frame and Tish Jones) will be joined in the show by Who regulars Jemma Redgrave and Alexander Devrient, whose UNIT chief Kate Lethbridge-Stewart and Colonel Ibrahim were last seen in 'Empire Of Death' holding hands after being brought back from bad dog Sutekh's dust of death. Creator Davies is aboard to showrun the new spin-off and will write alongside Who alum and A Discovery Of Witches scribe Pete McTighe, whilst Dylan Holmes Williams — the man who helmed latest Doctor Who series standouts '73 Yards' and 'Dot And Bubble' — is going to be behind the camera for all five episodes.
Details on the plot are scarce for now, but here's the official logline: "When a fearsome and ancient species emerges from the ocean, dramatically revealing themselves to humanity, an international crisis is triggered. With the entire population at risk, UNIT step into action as the land and sea wage war."
“I’m so lucky to work with such a magnificent cast," said Davies in a statement accompanying the series' announcement. "And this is a huge, muscular, thrilling drama which will shake the Whoniverse to its foundations. When the Doctor’s not in town, the whole of humanity is in trouble.”
Filming on the show is set to get underway next month, which bodes well for us getting to see The War Between The Land And The Sea potentially sometime in 2025. In the meantime, Whovians have got Steven Moffat's upcoming Christmas special (which has just dropped a new SDCC teaser trailer) and Gatwa's second series as everybody's favourite Time Lord (which has just added Jonah Hauer-King to its cast) to look forward to. As the Doctor not-at-all-foreshadowingly said in '73 Yards', "It never ends, the war between the land and the sea." For us, we just can't wait for it to begin!