8 Ways Doctor Who Could Actually End
Even a show as big as Doctor Who isn't invincible.
Like Harry Potter, Star Trek, and Star Wars, Doctor Who is one of those evergreen franchises that feels like it'll be around forever.
It's impossible to imagine the pop-culture landscape without wizards, lightsabers, Patrick Stewart's beautiful bald head, and the TARDIS, and though there was a substantial period of time when the show was off the air, its fanbase stuck around, and the 2005 revival made Doctor Who the biggest it's ever been.
That said, the fact that TV shows and movie franchises end all the time does raise an interesting question, one that many Whovians have pondered over the years: what if the same thing happened to Doctor Who? Hypothetically, what if Doctor Who did come to an end one day - an actual, definitive, permanent end? What would that look like, and how might such a finale be executed?
It's a big question, so naturally, we decided to try and answer it!
While we're praying to the Time Lord Council that none of the following options actually happen, each is a potential avenue the showrunners could go down, if - god forbid - they do decide to end Doctor Who one day.
8. Cancellation (Again)
Cancelling Doctor Who is one of those extreme outcomes that seems way too outlandish to even consider... until you remember that it's actually happened before.
Doctor Who might be one of the most popular and famous brands in entertainment, but that was also true in the '80s - and yet, the plug was still pulled.
Now sure, it was a completely different time back then, with completely different people in charge - people who didn't treat the show with the respect it deserves. But still, considering that Doctor Who has been cancelled once before, there's always going to be that lingering thought at the back of fans' minds... "could it happen again?"
Well, sure it could. But not in the immediate future. Though a certain vocal minority would have you believe that Doctor Who is pretty much dead right now, it isn't: it still gets more viewers than most shows can dream of, and the impending return of RTD means that the show's future is the brightest it's been in years.
And even way in the future, there isn't going to be an abrupt cancellation that we see so many other shows suffer, with the creatives not being given the time or the space to work out a satisfying, definitive conclusion. Rather, if Doctor Who is put to rest one day, it'll be a more gradual, well-planned retirement.