'Doctor Who': Ncuti Gatwa's First Season Will Arrive with a Two Episode Global Premiere This May

Get ready, Doctor Who fans: A new era is officially about to begin. Disney+ and the BBC have confirmed that the iconic sci-fi series will officially return this May with a two-episode premiere, as Ncuti Gatwa's (Sex Education) Fifteenth Doctor sets off on his first season of adventures with new companion Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) in tow. The new season is set to feature everything from a story set in Regency England to a visit to the Beatles' famous 1960s recording studio, Abbey Road, and much more. 

“At last, it’s my great delight to unleash a whole new season of the Doctor and Ruby’s adventures together," current (and former) Doctor Who showrunner Russell T. Davies said in a statement. "Monsters! Chases! Villains! Mysteries! And a terrifying secret that’s been spanning time and space for decades. Don’t miss a second!”

The new installment will be the first-ever to launch on Disney+ and release simultaneously worldwide. The season's first two episodes will drop on streaming on May 10 at 7 p.m. ET in the U.S. and at midnight GMT on May 11 on BBC iPlayer.  In the U.K. this will be followed by a linear broadcast at 6 p.m. GMT on BBC One, ahead of the annual Eurovision musical contest. Somehow, it's oddly fitting that this little show about time travel should have a simultaneous premiere that technically arrives on different days in the U.S. and U.K.. But it turns out that things like premiere dates are really all just a big ball of wibbly wobbly, timey-wimey stuff in the end. 

Here's the official synopsis. 

The Doctor and his companion Ruby Sunday travel across time and space, with adventures all the way from the Regency era in England, to war-torn future worlds. Throughout their adventures in the TARDIS – a time-traveling ship shaped like a police box – they encounter incredible friends and dangerous foes, including a terrifying bogeyman, and the Doctor’s most powerful enemy yet.

Alongside Gatwa and Gibson, several returning faces are set to be part of the new season, including Bonnie Langford (EastEnders) as classic Who companion Melanie Bush; Yasmin Finney (Heartstopper) as Donna Noble's daughter, Rose; and Jemma Redgrave (Grantchester) as UNIT leader Kate Lethbridge-Stewart. Michele Greenridge (It's a Sin) and Angela Wynter (Time) will also be back as Ruby's adoptive mother and grandmother, alongside Anita Dobson (The Long Call) as the Sundays' mysterious neighbor, Mrs. Flood. 

Confirmed guest stars for the new season include Jinx Monsoon (RuPaul's Drag Race), Jonathan Groff (Hamilton), Indira Varma (Game of Thrones), Lenny Rush (Am I Being Unreasonable?), Genesis Lynea (Silent Witness), and Aneurin Barnard (1899).

Doctor Who is produced by Bad Wolf with BBC Studios for Disney Branded Television and the BBC. Executive producers include Phil Collinson, Joel Collins, Julie Gardner, and Jane Tranter. The new season features episodes directed by Ben Chessell (The Great), Jamie Donoughue (A Discovery of Witches), Julie Anne Robinson (Bridgerton), and Dylan Holmes Williams (Servant).

For those who need to catch up before the new season begins, Gatwa and Gibson's debut adventure, "The Church on Ruby Road," is currently streaming on Disney+.