‘Doctor Who’ Star Reveals Scrapped Ending for Ncuti Gatwa’s Season 2 Finale

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We’re learning more about how the final episode of Doctor Who’s fifteenth season was originally planned, and it sounds like there were some significant last-minute changes made during production.

As a long-time fan, I was pretty shocked during the latest episode when it turned out Poppy wasn’t the Doctor’s daughter after all! It was revealed she’s actually the child of Belinda, one of the Doctor’s companions, and a man we never even saw. I just read an interview with Carole Ann Ford – it was great to see her back as Susan Foreman! – and she said the ending was actually changed from the original plan. It’s fascinating to hear how things evolve behind the scenes!

Ford explained that she initially filmed a scene with Sienna-Robyn Mavanga-Phipps, the actress who played Poppy. This scene established Poppy as the Doctor’s daughter, and therefore the mother of Susan. Because of time travel, the older Susan was able to appear alongside her younger mother. Ford described the original scene but didn’t reveal the reason it was ultimately changed.

There was an episode meant to hint at my return, where my character held hands with a sweet, three-year-old Black child. We were looking through a window at a location the audience wasn’t meant to identify, watching Ncuti Gatwa – who was playing my character’s newly revealed grandfather – enjoy a party in a shop across the street. My character, Susan, desperately wanted to rush over, hug him, and ask how he’d survived being lost in space and why he’d changed. Sadly, that didn’t happen, and I won’t be sharing the reasons why.

The Hints at The Doctor’s Family Had Been Built Up


BBC

Susan Foreman was the very first companion to travel with the Doctor when Doctor Who began in 1963. She left the show relatively early, after just two episodes in its second season in 1964, but made special appearances for the 20th and 30th anniversary celebrations, including a crossover with the soap opera EastEnders in a story called Dimensions in Time. For many years, the idea that the Doctor had a granddaughter seemed to be overlooked. However, with Russell T. Davies’ return to Doctor Who and the arrival of Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor, hints began to appear that Susan’s story might become important again.

The character Susan, the Doctor’s granddaughter, was mentioned in the second episode of Doctor Who Series 14, “The Devil’s Chord,” where the Doctor tells Ruby Sunday he’ll be living with his granddaughter in 1963. Later, in the Series 14 finale, the Doctor initially believes a mysterious woman appearing throughout time is Susan, but this turns out to be a deception by the villain, Suketh. The idea that Poppy is the daughter of the Doctor and Susan was first hinted at in the debut episode of Series 14, “Space Babies,” and further suggested in “The Devil’s Chord” when the Doctor meets a baby named Poppy and expresses a wish to be her father. The appearance of a second child named Poppy as the Doctor’s child indicates this storyline was likely changed during the show’s production.

The recent changes appear to be due to doubts about the show’s continuation. When Disney+ seemed unlikely to order another season, the finale, “The Reality War,” was reworked to give Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor a conclusive ending, assuming the actor wouldn’t be available during a potential wait for renewal. The finale, which featured Gatwa’s Doctor regenerating, sparked significant fan controversy, with many pointing out a rushed ending and unresolved storylines. As of now, there’s still no official confirmation about whether Doctor Who will continue, or if Billie Piper’s appearance as a potential future Doctor will ever be explained.

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2025-10-26 19:23