Doctor Who Show Runner Steven Moffat Leaving After Next Season

Steven Moffat announced he will be stepping down at the conclusion of the next season of Doctor Who. Moffat, who took the reins of the runaway hit show in 2005 after Russell T Davies departed, lead the franchise into new, wilder territories during his ten-year run as head writer. His replacement, will be current Broadchurch writer Chris Chibnall.

Perhaps the most troubling thing about this announcement, was the revelation that except for a Christmas special in December, there will be NO NEW Doctor Who in 2016. Seriously guys, ONE YEAR until we get to see new Who, and even then it’ll only be the Christmas special. The final 12 episodes of the Moffat era will begin to air in Spring of 2017, and Chibnall will take over in 2018.

Ready for one more hint of bad news? There are plans to perhaps debut the replacement of the Doctor’s current companion (and my favorite) Clara Oswald. It’s still unclear whether or not we’ll see them during the Christmas special or not, but for sure when the season airs in the spring.

Moffat went on to say that it “Feels odd to be talking about leaving when I’m just starting work on the scripts for season 10, but the fact is my timey-wimey is running out. While Chris is doing his last run of Broadchurch, I’ll be finishing up on the best job in the universe and keeping the TARDIS warm for him. It took a lot of gin and tonic to talk him into this, but I am beyond delighted that one of the true stars of British Television drama will be taking the Time Lord even further into the future. At the start of season 11, Chris Chibnall will become the new showrunner of Doctor Who. And I will be thrown in a skip.”

Fans of the show will surely miss Moffat, but the series will be in good hands. Chibnall himself is a lifelong Doctor Who fan, and actually wrote one of the modern series most popular episodes, Dinosaurs On A Spaceship.