Doctor Who Season 2 release date announced in an incredibly confusing way

Just days after rumors were spreading that Doctor Who might have been canceled, fans were told when the next season would debut. However, a large chunk of the fandom never saw the announcement, and there is still no confirmation that this date is accurate on the official Doctor Who or BBC social media pages. What happened with this announcement, and when is the next season coming?

Doctor Who's return was announced... during a rugby game?

Many fans are wondering if this announcement was a mistake on someone's part, and that's certainly a plausible conclusion, given how the release date was revealed. There have been some conflicting reports, but according to X user @AMadmanNotABox, the teaser appeared during both the England v Scotland game of the Under 20s Six Nations Rugby Championship and the Gloucester v Harlequins Premiership Women's Rugby match.

Both games aired on Friday, February 21, with the Six Nations game beginning at 19:05 PM GMT (2:05 PM EST) and the Premiership Woman's game at 19:45 PM GMT (2:45 PM EST). The release date appeared at the end of a 20-second teaser, which had already been posted to the Doctor Who YouTube channel last Christmas.

Doctor Who is returning in April

Assuming that this is the correct date, then Doctor Who is set to return to screens on April 12, 2025. Since even this date is a bit in question, we really don't know anything else, including whether new episodes will drop at midnight (in the UK or America) or return to a more normal time.

Earlier in the day on Friday, the BBC did release a casting announcement, as Christopher Chung (Slow Horses) will be joining Doctor Who for an episode that was described by the actor as "packed with everything Who fans love: heart, adventure, and a touch of madness" and by Russell T Davies as "one of the darkest, toughest episodes we’ve ever made." However, there was no mention of the release date at that time.

The only other official information we have about this upcoming season is who the writers will be. Unlike last season, where Russell T. Davies was the sole writer for nearly every episode, there will be new writers contributing this year. Those include two writers who have previously written for the Doctor Who universe—Juno Dawson (Doctor Who: Redacted) and Pete McTighe ("Kerblam!")—and two newcomers—Inua Ellams (Barber Shop Chronicles) and Sharma Angel-Walfall (Dreamland).

This is later than fans had been predicting

Last December, Russell T. Davies told fans that the new season would be coming "sooner than you think." While this is a fairly quick turn-around in today's entertainment landscape, it's questionable how well it meets that sentiment. After all, the start of Season 1 debuted on May 10, 2024, so it's only about a month earlier this year.

More importantly, there is a major Doctor Who anniversary coming up in March that fans speculated might have been when the show would return. 2025 marks the 20-year anniversary of the Davies-led revival, and we all know how much Doctor Who likes their anniversary celebrations. "Rose" first aired on March 17, 2005, so there was some speculation that the next season would start then.

At this point, we don't know what (if anything) is being done for the 20th anniversary, since it's apparently not going to be a new season. It seems unlikely that they would completely ignore such a significant event, particularly since Davies is back in charge, but there's just not any information available at this time.

It's possible that this unusual announcement was rushed out in order to stymie further speculation that the show is heading toward its second cancellation. The BBC and Russell T. Davies have been very firm about the fact that the fate of Season 3 is dependent on how Season 2 is received. Only time will tell if Doctor Who is really on its way out.