The next season of Doctor Who could be the most exciting for the Time Lord and her companions.
BBC America
Hang on to your Tardis! The popular British sci-fi TV series Doctor Who returns in early 2020 — and if the new trailer is any indication, it looks like fans are in for an action-packed 12th season.
The new trailer, which debuted on Nov. 23, shows Doctor Who’s first female Doctor played by Jodie Whittaker is back and ready to take on whatever the universe has to throw her way.
The 13th Doctor is joined by her companions Yaz (Mandip Gill), Ryan (Tosin Cole) and Graham (Bradley Walsh) who look like they’ll be facing off with some alien races who have a bone to pick with the famous Time Lord.
Let’s pick apart what we can from the trailer.
Cybermen are coming after the Doctor
“Something’s coming after me, I can feel it,” the Doctor says in the trailer. The Cybermen are always down for a fight with the Doctor, and when they find her she could be done for — the Doctor may be on her last regeneration. The Cybermen would no doubt jump at the chance to be the ones who get to kill the famous Time Lord after all these years.
The Judoon are back!
The Judoon — the brutish aliens who look like a mix of rhinos and humans — have returned. They are known throughout the galaxy for acting as the mercenary police force who only care about following the law to the letter. The question is will they be fighting against the Doctor or with her?
Was that the Racnoss?
The half-human, half-spider race of aliens called the Racnoss threatened Earth in 2007. In the new trailer, it looks like they may have returned to cause more chaos for the Doctor.
Stephen Fry asks for help in the new season of Doctor Who.
Video screenshot by Bonnie Burton/CNET
Stephen Fry needs the Doctor’s help
The trailer begins with the Doctor making a James Bond joke while wearing a tuxedo. So chances are that episode will be a Bond-like adventure for the Doctor and her companions. It looks like actor Stephen Fry is playing some kind of high-level government official or perhaps the new head of MI-5 spy division. He asks the Doctor an important question: “The security of this entire planet is at stake, can we rely upon you?”
What’s with all the birds?
Alarge flock of black birds swarms outside the Tardis. Could this be an homage episode honoring Alfred Hitchcock‘s celebrated 1963 horror film The Birds? Or is it just an ominous sign that the end of days have finally arrived?
Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor wears some stylish motorcycle goggles in the 13th season of Doctor Who.
Video screenshot by Bonnie Burton/CNET
Welcome to Paris 1943
It looks like the Tardis will land in Paris, 1943. Around this time France was occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II. This is also the beginning of the French resistance, which would eventually help liberate France from the Nazis. Not for the first time, there’s a chance the Doctor and her companions will come across Nazis.
More famous guest stars
In addition to Fry, the actors Goran Visnjic (ER), Robert Glenister (Paranoid) and Lenny Henry (Broadchuch) are seen in the trailer and will serve as guest stars for the new season.
“I first appeared in Doctor Who in The Caves of Androzani at the tender age of 24 in 1984,” Glenister told the BBC on Nov. 23. “Thirty-five years later, I got to be in it again at the not-so-tender age of nearly 60. How time flies!”
Doctor Who ended its 11th series at the end of 2018 with the highest ratings in a decade for the show. The trailer says the new season of Doctor Who will air on BBC and BBC America in early 2020.
All other seasons of Doctor Who will be streaming exclusively on HBO Max in 2020, when WarnerMedia’s new streaming service launches.
