Doctor Who announces new spin-off, plus shows off Nicola Coughlan guest appearance at Comic-Con

Having recently gotten a big infusion of Disney cash, the Doctor Who franchise is determined to spend it—announcing today, at its Comic-Con panel in San Diego, that it’s launching a new five episode spin-off series staring Russell Tovey and Gugu Mbatha-Raw. (Both of whom have previously appeared in Doctor Who, of course, but there’s maybe no franchise on Earth more comfortable with swapping actors and parts around, so go figure.) The series will be verbosely titled The War Between The Land And The Sea, and will center on a race of “Sea Devils” who decide they’re not super happy about how humanity has been treating the oceans of late. The series will also star Jemma Redgrave and Alexander Devrient, who currently appear from time to time on Who as Kate Stewart, leader of “Damn, we should probably do something about all these aliens that keep blowing up the planet” agency UNIT, and one of her high-ranking subordinates, Colonel Ibrahim.

Who showrunner Russell T. Davies, who recently returned to the series as it transitioned into Ncuti Gatwa’s tenure as The Doctor, described the new series as a “muscular, thrilling drama”; from context clues, we’re also pretty sure we can add “wet” to its list of exciting adjectives. Davies was on-hand at the panel with Gatwa and co-star Milly Gibson, who talked through the mothership show’s plans for what they’re calling “Season 2,” but which is really, depending on your personal levels of pedantry, either Season 15, or, like, 41. In addition to discussing plans to address companion Ruby Sunday’s ongoing PTSD from the last season or so of very weird space adventures, the panelists also brought out footage of at least one big-name guest star: Bridgerton‘s Nicola Coughlan, who Gatwa described as “an absolute star.” Coughlan will appear in this year’s Christmas special, “Joy To The World”—she plays Joy, natch—which will be written by long-time Who writer (and former showrunner) Steven Moffat.

Elsewhere in the panel, the trio talked through plans for their next season, including mentioning that there’s a big musical episode in the works, and noting that incoming arrival of new companion Belinda Chandra, played by Varada Sethu. Doctor Who returns to the streaming airwaves (including on Disney+ in the States) with its Christmas special later this year.