Doctor Who Showrunner Reveals Whether Season 15’s Time Fracture Could Haunt The Doctor In Future Episodes

Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies reveals whether more time fractures will cause trouble for the Doctor and Belinda following the season 15 premiere. Doctor Who season 15 sees Ncuti Gatwa’s incarnation of the Time Lord trying to get his new companion, played by Varada Sethu, back home. In the season premiere “The Robot Revolution,” Belinda is mistaken for a ruler of a far-off world and transported through a phenomenon known as a time fracture to the other side of the universe.

As the Doctor and Belinda begin their journey across the universe following the events of Doctor Who season 15’s premiere, Davies weighed in on whether future time fractures will make the journey home even more difficult when speaking to Inverse. Despite the role it played in beginning Belinda’s journey, the showrunner stated that time fractures won’t be a common occurrence, explaining that it was simply a quick narrative solution to bring Belinda into the Doctor’s world. Check out Davies’ full explanation below:

It’s a device for this episode. It doesn’t come back at the end. We live in a world of time loops, time fractures. I think what I love about writing science fiction, which in these days is that was such a literary audience. I think if this had been the original writers of Doctor Who in 1963, that would’ve taken a bit of an explanation. Now, we’re kind of like, “Yeah, time fracture, off we go,” life and it just makes sense and it just basically allows for different doctrine, companion relationship. What a time fracture does here for the Doctor and for Belinda, putting them at odds with each other, and helping them then solve the problem together, that’s great.

What Davies’ Time Fracture Reveal Means For Doctor Who Season 15 Going Forward

Something More Powerful May Be At Play

With Davies confirming that time fractures won’t play any role in the season going forward, the question of why the Doctor can’t simply return to Earth remains wide open. While the next episode will show that the TARDIS can still return to Earth in the past, the Doctor is unable to return to the planet on the date of May 25. Furthermore, the Doctor Who season 15 premiere ending implies that Earth may not even exist, given the debris shown after the TARDIS dematerializes, suggesting something far worse may have happened.

As time fractures are no longer playing a part in preventing the Doctor and Belinda from returning home, perhaps something more sentient is to blame. Given her quick debut in the opening of “The Robot Revolution” and her past declarations of wanting to reshape the universe, it is likely Mrs. Flood (Anita Dobson) may have a part in this ongoing mystery. Furthermore, given trailers showing her appearing in different settings, she may influence the journey firsthand and further impact the overall plot.

Our Take On Doctor Who Season 15’s Time Fracture

The Phenomenom Has Ties To Past Lore

Time fractures and other phenomena of this sort are nothing new to Doctor Who, as the franchise even had a real-life escape room experience centered around similar rifts appearing on Earth. As such, it would make sense for the new device to hold deeper ties to Doctor Who‘s lore and play a larger role within the season. However, with Davies debunking their future appearance, it is likely that this obstacle is a natural phenomenon and the creation of something far more sinister.

Source: Inverse

Doctor Who

5/10

Release Date

December 25, 2023

Directors

Douglas Camfield, David Maloney, Christopher Barry, Michael E. Briant, Barry Letts, Michael Ferguson, Richard Martin, Peter Moffatt, Pennant Roberts, Lennie Mayne, Chris Clough, Ron Jones, Paddy Russell, Paul Bernard, Michael Hayes, Timothy Combe, Morris Barry, Gerald Blake, Graeme Harper, Waris Hussein, Rodney Bennett, Mervyn Pinfield, Hugh David, John Gorrie

Writers

Russell T. Davies, Dave Gibbons, Kate Herron, Steven Moffat

Franchise(s)

Doctor Who