Why Isn’t There A New ‘Doctor Who’ Christmas Special In 2018?

“Doctor Who” fans might be a little disappointed this Christmas. There is no new Christmas special airing in 2018, but they should know that there’s still plenty to look forward to.

Instead of a Christmas special, there will be a “Doctor Who” New Year’s special. Of course, those who want to celebrate Christmas with the TARDIS can tune in to BBC America for a marathon. The celebration started at noon on Christmas Eve and will keep going through tomorrow morning.

After the Christmas episodes stop on Wednesday, the network will start playing other episodes of Doctor Who for a weeklong marathon. They’ll kick off with Jodie Whittaker’s immediate predecessor, Peter Capaldi. After airing the Twelfth Doctor’s episodes, they’ll go back to the beginning, airing Nine (Christopher Eccleston), Ten (David Tennant) and Eleven’s (Matt Smith) adventures until New Year’s Day, when Whovians finally get their new episode.

The “Doctor Who” New Year’s Day special is titled “Resolution.” Wayne Yip, who directed episodes in Season 10, will helm the episode.

As for what will happen in the holiday episode, it still isn’t clear. The BBC America synopsis is vague, to say the least: “As the New Year begins, a terrifying evil is stirring from across the centuries of Earth’s history. Will the Doctor, Ryan (Tosin Cole), Graham (Bradley Walsh) and Yaz (Mandip Gill) be able to overcome this threat to Planet Earth?”

The trailer, however, got fans very excited about the possibility of Daleks returning. In the promo video, seen at the top of this page, Whittaker’s Doctor says, “This is the DNA of the most dangerous creature in the universe.”

Of course, the cast isn’t addressing the Dalek rumors. “Well, like you say, they’re just rumors, aren’t they?” Gil told Entertainment Weekly. “We’ve managed to get this far keeping everything a secret. Now, how would we let that slip?”

Thus far, the show has been using new aliens and adversaries, but audiences will have to wait until 2019 to see if that changes.

Unfortunately, the New Year’s Day special will be the last audiences see of “Doctor Who” for quite some time. As previously reported, Season 12 won’t premiere until 2020.