Doctor Who's Hiatus Is A Golden Opportunity For The BBC To Revive Its 5-Season Cult Fantasy Hit

Credit: BBC via MovieStillsDB Published Jul 29, 2026, 6:00 PM EDT El is a Junior TV Features Editor for ScreenRant, with previous experience as The Mary Sue's UK and Weekend Editor. She holds a Bachelor's in International Media and Entertainment Management, as well as an MA and Ph.D. in Creative Writing. There is little she loves more than discussing her favorite TV shows with fellow fans. One day, she hopes to publish an original fantasy novel. Sign in to your ScreenRant account Doctor Who's indefinite hiatus leaves room for one of the BBC's most beloved fantasy shows to make its long-awaited return. Doctor Who has been the British network's crowning jewel for six decades; it's one of the oldest, most influential shows in the genre and on television as a whole. When the BBC rebooted the series in 2005 with Christopher Eccleston's (highly underrated) Ninth Doctor after a lengthy 15-year break, the franchise seemed unstoppable, cultivating fandom far beyond the UK's borders and popular enough to catch even Disney's attention. Now, however, 21 years and 15 seasons later, the Doctor's future has once again been put on hold. Earlier this year, despite previously confirming the development of a Christmas special for 2026, the BBC announced it was putting Doctor Who out to competitive tender following Disney's withdrawal from its co-production and distribution deal. The holiday episode was subsequently canceled. With season 15/2's massive finale cliffhanger hanging over the franchise's head, in which Ncuti Gatwa's Fifteenth Doctor inexplicably regenerates into former companion Rose Tyler (Billie Piper), the show's hiatus feels even more painful. Still, Doctor Who could potentially come back better than ever before if it allows audiences to miss the Doctor and their TARDIS again for a few years, after a string of divisive episodes. The show's absence does leave a void in the BBC's upcoming programming, however, which could potentially be filled by the revival of another of the British Broadcasting Corporation's cult fantasy hits: Merlin, otherwise known as The Adventures of Merlin. Merlin Is One Of The BBC's Best Fantasy Shows Merlin, which premiered on the BBC just three years after Doctor Who's original return, was — at the time, at least — one of the most ambitious fantasy shows on television. An Arthurian legend retelling, Merlin starred Colin Morgan as the young, up-and-coming wizard and manservant Merlin, Bradley James as Camelot's heroic future king Arthur, Angel Coulby as the soon-to-be queen Guinevere, and Katie McGrath as the eventually antagonistic sorceress, Morgana. Merlin may never have been as flashy or as epic as current hits like House of the Dragon and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, but it arguably paved the way for more mythical high fantasy shows to be produced exclusively for the small screen. Set in a kingdom where magic was outlawed and punishable by death, as decreed by Arthur's father, Uther Pendragon (a wonderfully villainous performance by the late Anthony Head), Merlin turned the relationship between Arthur and Merlin into one of the most beloved dynamics on television. The broadcasting rights for The Adventures of Merlin were sold to 183 countries. What made Merlin so special, beyond its low-budget British charm and captivating performances, was the way it reinterpreted one of history's most well-known myths. What if Arthur and Merlin were destined to be enemies but became the best of friends instead? What if Merlin willingly put his life in danger to save people's lives and help Arthur fulfill his destiny, despite knowing it could end in his execution? How does their bond affect the people in Arthur's life, like Morgana and the future Knights? The series was endearingly earnest, striking the right balance of humor, drama, and genuine character-driven storytelling. Having the young Merlin disguise himself as a decrepit old wizard was an inspired nod to the character's origins, the stakes becoming increasingly drastic the longer Merlin kept his true self hidden from the "once and future king." Add the iconic late John Hurt's wonderfully charismatic and memorable voice performance as Merlin's Dragon adviser, and the show had all the makings of an incredible and enduring hit fantasy saga. Merlin Has Multiple Reboot Possibilities To many fans' dismay, Merlin ended after five seasons, leaving Merlin, aka Emrys, to wander the Earth on his own for centuries, waiting for Arthur to reappear whenever Albion and the world needed him most. As such, a potential Merlin revival has multiple possibilities. The BBC could produce a limited series about Arthur's return in the present day. It would be interesting to see Merlin and Arthur living out their lives in modern times, with magic having eroded even further since Camelot's heyday. What kind of crisis might prompt Arthur's resurrection? From Westeros to Middle-Earth to the Continent · Eight Questions How Well Do You Know Fantasy TV? “The night is dark and full of terrors.” 🪨Game of ThronesWinter is coming 👑Rings of PowerOne ring to rule 🗡️The WitcherToss a coin ⚢Wheel of TimeThe Pattern weaves 👻The SandmanLord of Dreams UNROLL THE SCROLL → 01 HBO’s Game of Thrones — the pop-culture juggernaut that made fantasy TV prestige — premiered with the episode “Winter Is Coming.” Across eight seasons it picked up a record 59 Emmy wins. In which year did its first episode air? A2009 B2011 C2013 D2014 ✓ Correct! 2011 — April 17, to be exact. The unaired pilot was so notoriously poor (after a friends-and-family screening, novelist George R.R. Martin reportedly told showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss they had a real problem) that nearly all of it was reshot before broadcast. The retooled premiere immediately became HBO’s biggest hit since The Sopranos. The series ran 73 episodes across eight seasons through 2019. ✗ Wrong. The answer is 2011. 2009 is when the original pilot was filmed (and largely reshot). 2013 is when Season 3’s Red Wedding episode aired. 2014 is when Season 4’s “The Watchers on the Wall” reset what TV could do with effects. GoT debuted April 17, 2011. NEXT → 02 Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon and the upcoming A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms are all adapted from the sprawling A Song of Ice and Fire universe. Name the author whose unfinished novels (the next book has been pending since 2011) underpin every adaptation. ABrandon Sanderson BGeorge R.R. Martin CPatrick Rothfuss DJoe Abercrombie ✓ Correct! George R.R. Martin (born 1948). The first ASOIAF novel A Game of Thrones came out in 1996; the most recent in the main sequence (A Dance with Dragons) in 2011. The Winds of Winter is now over 13 years overdue. Martin has remained heavily involved in the HBO universe through House of the Dragon, the upcoming A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (2026), and an in-development Aegon’s Conquest series. ✗ Wrong. The answer is George R.R. Martin. Brandon Sanderson is the Cosmere/Stormlight Archive author (and the writer Robert Jordan’s estate hired to finish Wheel of Time). Patrick Rothfuss is the Kingkiller Chronicle author with his own infamous-publication-delay reputation. Joe Abercrombie writes the First Law series. ASOIAF is Martin’s. NEXT → 03 Netflix’s The Witcher (2019–) adapted Andrzej Sapkowski’s novels with a lead actor who’s a famously hardcore fan of the source material — he wore the white wig, did much of his own swordplay, and personally pushed back against Lauren Schmidt Hissrich’s scripts before departing after Season 3. Name him. AHenry Cavill BLiam Hemsworth CAidan Turner DSam Heughan ✓ Correct! Henry Cavill. He played Geralt of Rivia for three seasons before exiting in 2022 over creative differences with the show’s writers’ room (the books-vs-show approach being the open wound). Liam Hemsworth was announced as his replacement and takes over from Season 4 (2025). Cavill’s exit was widely treated as a major moment of fan-vs-streamer tension and contributed to the late-2022/2023 Netflix-fantasy-slate scrutiny. ✗ Wrong. The answer is Henry Cavill. Liam Hemsworth replaces him as Geralt from Season 4 (2025) onward. Aidan Turner played Kili in The Hobbit films. Sam Heughan is Outlander’s Jamie Fraser. The Witcher’s original Geralt is Henry Cavill, through Seasons 1–3. NEXT → 04 House of the Dragon — the Game of Thrones prequel chronicling the Targaryen civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons — is set how long before the events of the original series? A~50 years B~100 years C~200 years D~500 years ✓ Correct! Approximately 200 years before A Game of Thrones (172 years before Robert’s Rebellion, more precisely). The series adapts material from George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood (2018), a fictionalised in-universe history of the Targaryen dynasty. House of the Dragon premiered in August 2022, drew 9.99 million viewers across HBO’s simultaneous-platform debut and Season 2 followed in 2024 with the Battle of Rook’s Rest as its climactic setpiece. ✗ Wrong. The answer is ~200 years. The Targaryen kings featured (Viserys I, Aegon II, Rhaenyra) reign during the Dance of the Dragons (129–131 AC), which is roughly 172 years before Robert’s Rebellion in the original series. Martin’s Fire & Blood is the in-universe history that the show mines for source material. NEXT → 05 The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power — reportedly the most expensive TV series ever made, with a five-season commitment from its streamer at well over $1 billion total budget — is set in Middle-earth’s Second Age, thousands of years before The Hobbit. Which streaming service is it on? ANetflix BHBO Max CAmazon Prime Video DApple TV+ ✓ Correct! Amazon Prime Video. Amazon paid $250 million just for the rights from the Tolkien Estate in 2017, then committed to a five-season run with reported per-season budgets of $400–$465 million on Season 1 alone. Showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay were given access to the appendices of The Lord of the Rings (specifically the Second Age material) but not The Silmarillion proper, leading to many adaptation choices that have divided Tolkien purists. ✗ Wrong. The answer is Amazon Prime Video. Netflix has The Witcher and Sandman. HBO Max has Game of Thrones and HotD. Apple TV+ has Foundation. Rings of Power is Amazon’s flagship original drama and reportedly its single biggest production-budget bet. NEXT → 06 Amazon’s The Wheel of Time (2021–) is adapted from a 14-novel epic fantasy series running from 1990 to 2013. The series’ original author died in 2007 after completing only 11 of the planned books; Brandon Sanderson was hired by the estate to finish the final three. Who was the original author? ARobert Jordan BTerry Brooks CRaymond E. Feist DTerry Pratchett ✓ Correct! Robert Jordan — pen name of James Oliver Rigney Jr. He started The Wheel of Time in 1990 with The Eye of the World and worked on the series for 17 years before dying of cardiac amyloidosis in 2007 with three books left to go. His widow Harriet McDougal hired Brandon Sanderson, then a young Mistborn-era novelist, on the strength of a eulogy he wrote for Jordan; Sanderson finished the series across The Gathering Storm, Towers of Midnight and A Memory of Light. ✗ Wrong. The answer is Robert Jordan (James Oliver Rigney Jr.). Terry Brooks wrote the Shannara saga. Raymond E. Feist wrote the Riftwar Saga. Terry Pratchett wrote the Discworld series. The Wheel of Time is Jordan’s, with Brandon Sanderson finishing the last three books from his notes. NEXT → 07 Netflix’s The Sandman (2022–) adapts a beloved 75-issue DC/Vertigo comic that ran 1989–96 about Morpheus, the Lord of Dreams, and his troubled siblings — the Endless. Whose comics is the show based on? AAlan Moore BGrant Morrison CNeil Gaiman DMike Mignola ✓ Correct! Neil Gaiman. The 75-issue Sandman ran at DC’s mature-readers Vertigo imprint from 1989 to 1996 (with later spinoffs Sandman: Overture, etc.) and is widely cited alongside Watchmen and Maus as proof of comics’ literary potential. Gaiman’s direct involvement was central to the Netflix show’s development. Note that ongoing public controversies around Gaiman from 2024 onward have shaped the show’s future and Season 2’s framing. ✗ Wrong. The answer is Neil Gaiman. Alan Moore wrote Watchmen, V for Vendetta and From Hell. Grant Morrison wrote Doom Patrol, The Invisibles and All-Star Superman. Mike Mignola is the creator of Hellboy. Sandman is Gaiman’s. NEXT → 08 Netflix’s Shadow and Bone (2021–23) wove together the Shadow and Bone trilogy (Alina Starkov, the Sun Summoner) with the Six of Crows duology (Kaz Brekker’s Crows heist crew). Both source novel series are set in the same imagined Tsarist-Russia-coded fantasy world. Whose books are they? ASarah J. Maas BLeigh Bardugo CCassandra Clare DMarie Lu ✓ Correct! Leigh Bardugo. Her Grishaverse spans the Shadow and Bone trilogy (2012–14), the Six of Crows duology (2015–16), the King of Scars duology (2019–21) and various short fiction. Netflix’s adaptation merged plotlines from the two main series simultaneously and was cancelled after two seasons in 2023, with a Six of Crows-focused spinoff that had been in development at one point also abandoned. ✗ Wrong. The answer is Leigh Bardugo. Sarah J. Maas writes the Throne of Glass and ACOTAR series (the latter has a Hulu show in development). Cassandra Clare writes the Shadowhunters Chronicles (which also got a TV adaptation, on Freeform 2016–19). Marie Lu writes Legend and Warcross. The Grishaverse is Leigh Bardugo’s. REVEAL MY RATING → The Maester’s Verdict · Final Tally Your Realm Standing 🪨 / 8 Lord of the Realm — or smallfolk in the keep? ⤴ ANOTHER RAVEN Alternatively, Merlin could produce an anthology series of sorts, detailing Merlin's adventures throughout time. The finale's millennia-spanning time jump was, and remains, a rather jarring experience. It would be interesting to see Merlin fight to keep magic alive in different periods of history. Imagine Merlin operating during the Tudor era, the Industrial Revolution, or the London Blitz? The writers could get creative with how Merlin uses his magic during these times and conflicts, showing a different side of his powers without his old mentors to guide him. There are plenty of ways to bring that world back to the small screen. Whether the original actors would be willing or able to return remains to be seen, of course, and their inclusion could make or break any hypothetical revival. Still, there's arguably no better time for the BBC to bring Merlin back to life. The Doctor could really use a break. Release Date 2008 - 2012-00-00 Network BBC One Directors Jeremy Webb, Alice Troughton, David Moore, Justin Molotnikov, Ashley Way, Alex Pillai, James Hawes, Metin Hüseyin, Ed Fraiman, Stuart Orme Writers Julian Jones, Jake Michie, Howard Overman, Ben Vanstone, Richard McBrien Creator(s) Jake Michie, Julian Jones