Doctor Who has stood the test of time by making the replacing of its main cast part of the story. Over the years, there have been many different crews running Doctor Who behind the scenes. Even just solely on the new version (2005-present), the show has been around for a while.
Russell T. Davies will be returning for a second showrunner stint in 2023, which has naturally got fans wondering about the future of the show. Doctor Who's longevity and changeful nature mean that a lot of fans disagree on what they want from the future. Nevertheless, there are some core hopes the majority of fans have for Doctor Who moving forward.
10 Serialized Structure
Modern TV shows are dominated by the intricacies of serialized storytelling and structure, which is something that Doctor Who has typically rejected. In Chris Chibnall's era, the show has seen a return to serialization with Series 13: Flux, which fans loved. While behind-the-scenes reasons such as COVID contributed significantly to this structure for Series 13, it allowed the show to once again explore this type of storytelling.
Flux proved to be a successful series with critics and audience alike, but there was still a fair bit of polarization on whether the serialized structure worked for the show. Nevertheless, there are many fans that believe a serialized structure is the right way to move forward with Doctor Who, even if they don't believe Flux was a success.
9 Monster-Of-The-Week Structure
While modern TV shows tend to be serialized, Doctor Who has typically rejected this format in the New Who (2005-present) version by following a monster-of-the-week format, with an overarching series arc. This type of structure is obviously suited to a show about traveling anywhere in time and space every episode, it's considered part of its charm.
Russell T. Davies was the showrunner who brought the show back with its traditional monster-of-the-week format, and lots of fans would like to see that return. Judging by Davies' recent works on serialized shows such as Years & Years and It's A Sin, as well as Moffat's recent comments on Davies' second Doctor Who run, it is more likely Davies will abandon the monster-of-the-week structure.
8 Original Villains
Doctor Who is a show that can offer many different villains across many different settings and environments. The show does tend to have reoccurring monsters that have proven popular, but a lot of fans want to see better original villains.
Classic Who featured a lot of new villains over its 26 Seasons, which some fans feel has been lost in the modern version of the show. Swarm and Azure were a big part of the audience's excitement for Flux, which is a testament to the power of a new villain. The Ravagers were very popular, their design rivaling even the scariest Classic Series monsters, and it is likely Russell T. Davies will want to replicate the success of a new villain in future seasons.
7 Better Writing
Every era of Doctor Who has received backlash from a portion of the fandom, and Chibnall's era is no different. There has, however, been a consensus amongst many critics as well as a portion of the audience that the show's writing started declining with Series 9 and has never fully returned to such quality.
Writing can make or break a show, especially in an era where the story is so important and viewers are spoilt for choice. With Russell T. Davies returning to helm the show from 2023, most fans will be expecting an improvement in the show's writing moving forward.
6 Doctor Diversity
Diversity has always been a big part of Doctor Who, with the idea being that everybody in the universe is important, no matter their differences to one another. As such, the modern iteration of the show has long been a platform for representation diversity, and this is something fans want to continue in the future.
Jodie Whittaker is the first female Doctor and Jo Martin is the first black female Doctor. Both have made their debut during the Chris Chibnall era, which has opened the doors for much more diversity over choosing versions of the Doctor in the future.
5 Gallifrey's Return
New Who began with the 9th Doctor being the Last of the Time Lords, a final survivor of the Time War between the Time Lords and the Daleks. This happened off-screen, in-between the Classic and New versions of the show, and has been an extremely slow-burning plotline throughout the show's run.
In 2013, the 50th Anniversary Special "The Day of the Doctor" established that Gallifrey was saved by all thirteen lives of the Doctor up to Peter Capaldi. In 2020's "The Timeless Children" however, it was revealed that the Master had killed all of the Time Lords on Gallifrey after discovering the Timeless Child secret in the Matrix. A lot of fans would like to see Gallifrey return properly in future seasons of the show. From what we know about the Division, there is a chance Tecteun managed to save the Time Lords somehow.
4 Dalek Timeline Clearing-Up
The Daleks have appeared the most out of all villains in Doctor Who, having been the faces of the show at multiple points in time. While an iconic species, that are instantly recognizable from their voice alone, the Daleks' timeline has proven to be quite confusing, despite it not detracting from the best Dalek stories.
Since Daleks have appeared all over time and space, and have time travel technology, their timeline has been hard to place, with some attempts made to flesh out a timeline for them in the Classic Who stories. Some fans want to see the Daleks' timeline made clearer in future seasons.
3 Cybermen Timeline Clearing-Up
After the Daleks, the Cybermen have appeared the most out of all Doctor Who villains. Episodes featuring the Cybermen have depicted them with many different armor types and at different points in history, different locations, even in an alternate universe. Owing to all of these isolated, unconnected appearances, their timeline has become a little muddled.
While some fans argue that the lore behind the Cybermen's timelines doesn't matter, there are some fans that would like to see more effort given to it.
2 The Doctor's Missing Memories
While the Timeless Child revelation has proved to be a deeply polarizing one amongst viewers, Doctor Who doubled down with the plot development in Series 13: Flux when it was revealed that the Doctor's missing memories were hidden away in a fob watch, something nobody expected from Tecteun.
The Doctor locked this fob watch away in the TARDIS in the Flux finale, and a lot of fans are eager to see this explored in future seasons. If they are not explored by the time the 13th Doctor regenerates, there is always the chance to explore them with the 14th or 15th Doctors.
1 Spin-Off Set-Ups
With Russell T. Davies talking about Doctor Who being the MCU's precursor, the announcement that he was returning to run the show has got many fans excited about it becoming a multi-show franchise again. It has formed this with popular spin-offs Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures, so it could do it again.
The MCU style of storytelling has proven to be popular, with Star Wars launching into a shared TV universe, and many other franchises doing the same. Many fans are excited about the idea of Doctor Who following this route and would like to see stories in future seasons that set up spin-offs for Davies and his crew to explore alongside the main show.