Oh, Doctor Who — you absolute chaotic, timey-wimey queen.
If you heard a sonic boom echo through your group chat recently, it was likely the collective gay gasp triggered by the surprise regeneration of Ncuti Gatwa into Billie Piper (yes, that Billie Piper, as in “Run, Doctor!” Billie Piper). The twist marked not just the end of Gatwa’s two-season reign as the galaxy’s most stylish Time Lord, but a bold pivot for a show that, frankly, has never shied away from flamboyant reinvention.
But before anyone could fully process their emotions — or decide which regeneration look was their favorite (it’s the velvet suit, don’t lie) — the Whoniverse hit us with another bombshell: the trailer for The War Between the Land and the Sea. And darling, it is giving gay Atlantis meets UNIT fanfiction, and we are very much here for it.
Sea Devils, Fishy Politics, and Russell Tovey in Combat Boots
Enter Russell Tovey (patron saint of emotional gay longing in British sci-fi), leading the charge as Barclay, a no-nonsense UNIT soldier with cheekbones sharp enough to slice through underwater diplomacy. Tovey’s return to the Whoniverse — he last appeared as Alonso Frame, aka the guy Captain Jack Harkness flirted with on the Titanic in space — feels like poetic justice.
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And now, he’s squaring off with Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s Salt, a gloriously aquatic, blue-skinned Sea Devil who seems less concerned with annihilation and more with ending centuries of marine-mammal warfare. She’s fierce. She’s finned. She’s ready to talk peace — or rain down hell.
“The tides have drawn us together,” a voice intones over footage of Barclay being aggressively stoic in a trench coat. “We could make a difference, you and I. End the conflict between our species – before it’s too late.”
If that isn’t queer-coded, enemies-to-lovers-adjacent tension, I don’t know what is.
Showrunner and eternal LGBTQ+ ally Russell T Davies chimed in with peak camp gravitas:
“The excitement is beginning to build, as the Whoniverse expands. I can’t wait for people to see this magnificent cast in such a powerful, vital, epic story. Look to the seas!”
A sea-based sci-fi mini-epic where queerness, colonialism, and diplomacy swirl beneath crashing waves and bubble helmets? We’ve seen the future, and it’s underwater — and possibly wearing eyeliner.
A Goodbye to Ncuti, Our Queer Space Messiah
Of course, before we go full Poseidon-adjacent, we must give Ncuti Gatwa his flowers — or rather, his sonic screwdriver-shaped confetti. His portrayal of the Doctor wasn’t just electric, it was historic.
He was the first Black and openly queer actor to play the role — and he played it with teeth. With fire. With camp. With tenderness. And, let’s not forget, with a love story that had the Doctor falling for a man on-screen for the very first time in six decades. Some say overdue. Others say it is revolutionary. We say both.
In his departure statement, Gatwa simply wrote:
“Monsters, goblins, gods, human-eating Slugs, invisible brain altering creatures, evil barbers, conspiracy theorists… you’ve had quite a busy two years. Well done and rest up son.”
Reader, we cried.
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His exit was sudden, yes. Some might even say premature. But he changed the DNA of the show — and now the Whoniverse doesn’t just include queerness; it thrives on it.
Final Thoughts: The Ocean is Queer Now
With The War Between the Land and the Sea, Davies isn’t just throwing another alien invasion at UNIT — he’s making a political (and possibly romantic) statement about diplomacy, identity, and the complicated tides of change. And he’s doing it with queer people in charge.
Doctor Who has always been a show about transformation. Now, it’s reflecting back something queer fans have always known: that chosen families are sacred, that love is love across all of time and space, and that sometimes, the most powerful weapon in the galaxy is simply being unapologetically yourself.
So dive in, darling. The water’s fine. And also probably has lasers.
The War Between the Land and the Sea airs soon on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in the UK, and Disney+ internationally. Fins up, Whovians.
Source: DoctorWho.TV