With the conclusion of the latest season of Doctor Who, all eyes are on what’s next for adventures in time and space… and when, exactly, we’ll be getting them. But before the Doctor returns, Earth is going to have to stand alone in a new spinoff miniseries, The War Between Land and the Sea.
To mark the climax of Doctor Who‘s 2025 season, today the BBC revealed the first footage from War Between Land and Sea, which will see UNIT as the front line of defense when the Sea Devils—a race of aquatic reptilians who have existed on Earth since the dawn of time, hiding their advance civilization in hibernation alongside their other distantly affiliated ancient Earth dwellers, the Silurians, for millions of years—emerge from hiding and make themselves known to the Human race.
How do things go? Well, you could tell by the title of the miniseries alone that the answer to that is seemingly “not well”—and without the Doctor to fall back on like they’ve been able to the last couple of times the Sea Devils and Silurians alike tried to emerge, it’s up to humanity to find away to counter the threat of Earth’s ancient reclaimers… and if not co-exist with them, survive their wrath.
War Between Land and the Sea will feature several familiar faces from Doctor Who. There’s a few returning characters, including Jemma Redgrave, Alexander Devrient, and Ruth Madeley reprising their roles in UNIT as Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, Colonel Ibrahim, and Shirley Ann Bingham, respectively. In more of a deep cut, Colin McFarlane will reprise his role as General Austin Pierce from the third season of Torchwood, Children of Earth.
But, as seen in the trailer above, the series also stars two Doctor Who favorites, but as entirely new characters. Loki‘s Gugu Mbatha-Raw played companion Martha Jones’ sister, Tish, throughout the third season of Doctor Who, and is now a mysterious vanguard of the Sea Devils’ return, while Being Human‘s Russell Tovey previously appeared in the 2007 holiday special “Voyage of the Damned” as Midshipman Alonso Frame, now plays Barclay, a human who has seemingly been tasked with leading humanity’s response.
The War Between Land and the Sea will run for five episodes when it hits the BBC in the UK, and Disney+ internationally, and is currently expected to launch sometime in 2026.
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