‘Doctor Who’ Spinoff: Everything We Know About ‘Class’ So Far

“Doctor Who” Season 10 won’t air until 2017, but fans might have a new show to get obsessed with in the meantime. A spinoff called “Class” is currently being made, and we have all the details on the alien teen drama.

The cast of “Class” was just announced, and the actors make it clear that teenagers will be the focus. On Monday, BBC America revealed that Greg Austin, Fady Elsayed, Sophie Hopkins and Vivian Oparah will play the students, and Katherine Kelly will be their teacher, who is a “powerful new presence at Coal Hill School.” Character names have not been released yet.

If that school name sounds familiar it’s because it’s the facility where Clara (Jenna Coleman) taught on “Doctor Who” before she died. However, fans of the old version know that the school was introduced in 1963. It seems the Doctor’s frequent visits have caused a problem. “All the time travelling over the years has caused the very walls of space and time to become thin,” the synopsis says. “There’s something pressing in on the other side, something waiting for its chance to kill everyone and everything, to bring us all into Shadow.”

The show, set in modern day London, is being compared to “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” Steven Moffat, the current “Doctor Who” showrunner, believes executive producer Patrick Ness will be the drama’s Joss Whedon. “‘Class’ is dark and sexy and right now,” Moffat said in a press release. “I’ve always wondered if there could be a British ‘Buffy’ — it’s taken the brilliant Patrick Ness to figure out how to make it happen.”

Ness is very familiar with young adult stories. After all, he is a bestselling YA author. Ness is the writer behind novels like “More Than This” and “The Rest of Us Just Live Here.” He wrote the screenplay for “A Monster Calls,” but it looks like “Class” will be his first attempt at writing for television.

The showrunner previously revealed that he won’t rely too much on the existing “Doctor Who” aliens in the teen drama. “I want to show the world new stuff,” he told Entertainment Weekly in October. “I want to have new things that maybe we haven’t seen before. That’s my goal. That’s what I’m aiming for — shock you with something new. Something like the Weeping Angels, which I think are great, are brand new. Steven Moffat invented them a couple seasons ago. There’s not going to be any weeping angels on ‘Class,’ but I’m just saying that they’re something new to the ‘Doctor Who’ universe that are just awesome, and I would like to do that.”

The cast and crew still want to honor “Doctor Who” and make fans of the original happy. Gregory Austin expressed on his YouTube channel that he hopes the show satisfies longtime fans. “The main thing I just wanted to say, guys, is how excited I am to get started and how nervous I am to do it justice,” Austin told viewers. “I just really hope I can do justice to the whole ‘Doctor Who’ universe and especially to you guys.”

Watch his casting announcement below:

“Class” Season 1, which will have eight episodes, is set to premiere this fall on BBC America.