Over a week after releasing the first trailer for the twelfth season of Doctor Who, BBC America has just dropped a new one to announce the premiere date for the upcoming season.
According to the new trailer, Doctor Who Season 12 will return to the network on New Year’s Day at 8 p.m. ET. The season premiere is a two-part episode titled Spyfall, which is a clear play of words on the 23rd James Bond movie Skyfall.
After the first episode, Doctor Who will move to its regular time slot at 8 p.m. on Sundays, starting January 5th.
BBC America and BBC Studios are also partnering with Fathom Events to simulcast the season’s first two episodes at more than 600 movie theaters in the U.S. on January 5th. After the screening, Doctor Who stars Jodie Whittaker, Tosin Cole, and Mandip Gill will take part in a Q&A transmitted from The Paley Center for Media in New York. Tickets for the event will go on sale on Friday, December 6th.
The new trailer starts with the Doctor (Whittaker) declaring that there’s a “big, serious crisis” coming. While it’s unclear what that crisis is, the Doctor and her companions find themselves in different dangerous situations in the trailer.
“Something’s coming for me,” the Doctor also tells her colleagues Ryan (Cole), Yasmin (Gill) and Graham (Bradley Walsh) at one point in the trailer, as Graham assures her, “We’ll be right here, by your side.”
Among the many villains teased in the trailer are the Cybermen. In an interview with Radio Times last month, showrunner Chris Chibnall explained why they decided to bring back the race of cybernetically augmented humanoids.
“I really wanted to see Jodie against the Cybermen,” Chibnall said. “Cybermen feel like an important part of the rogues gallery and we’ve done something slightly different with them this year – there was a particular story I wanted to tell. They’re just relentless, the Cybermen. They just don’t stop.”
In addition to the return of the Cybermen, Season 12 of Doctor Who will also feature Stephen Fry, Sir Lenny Henry, Robert Glenister, and Goran Višnjić as guest stars.