Doctor Who fans across the pond are going to have to wait a while longer for spin-off The War Between the Land and the Sea, with star Russell Tovey confirming it won’t arrive on Disney+ until next year.
The series, written by Russell T Davies and Pete McTighe, follows Tovey’s Barclay, and Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s Salt, unlikely ambassadors for two different species who get thrown together when the world faces up to a conflict between the land and the oceans. It aired in the UK in December 2025.
Speaking exclusively to Radio Times about the publication of his new Audible novel Starlings, Tovey looked back on the show, saying: “I love working with Russell T Davies. It was such a a beautiful job. The writing was brilliant. The cast were amazing.
“It’s coming out on Disney+ next year, which I’m excited to see because no one over there has seen it internationally.”
Tovey couldn’t give a more specific date or release window but promised: “It’s definitely happening!”
He added: “It’s taken its time. I’ve never known anything where it’s been this far apart. I remember in the ’90s, you’d go Blockbuster and there’d be a film out in America and you’d have to wait like six months until it come out in the UK, and that wait was unbearable!
“It feels like we’ve gone back to the ’90s with this. Like, we’ve got it here, and they have to wait.”
Thankfully, Tovey’s got plenty more projects to tide us over, including new novel Starlings, which he wrote while filming The War Between.
The story follows drag queen Donald (voiced by Andrew Scott) who unexpectedly reunites with his estranged younger brother, Owen (George MacKay) after a family tragedy. The pair cautiously navigate their new relationship, all while dealing with ghosts from the past.
“I was filming the War Between the Land and the Sea when I was writing this,” Tovey explained.
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“On the way home from that, I’d be learning my lines for that show for the next day. Then I’d go to the gym, I’d take my dog for a walk, and then I’d write a chapter.
“I was so energised and fired up filming that show and having this book. I would sit down, and I’d be like, ‘[Which character] wants to talk now?'”
He added: “When I spoke to other writers about this, when you create a family of characters as a writer, they kind of end up standing around waiting for you to invite them in… It’s very strange. You create this family, and then they completely live inside you, and they’re fully fleshed out and real. But they’re just hanging out, waiting for their moment to continue talking. It was amazing.”
Tovey explained that the idea for Starlings had been with him for “many years” before Audible approached him to write a “scrappy, multi-narrative London queer story”.
“As any creative person, you make yourself vulnerable. That’s the purpose of being an artist.
“When you’re a writer, you can’t hide… As an actor, you go, ‘That’s the other writer’s words I’m saying.’ ‘But when you’re a writer, this is all from me. I can’t blame anyone else! If anyone’s like, ‘What the hell have you written?’… so there is a real vulnerability to that. But that felt really exciting.”
Starlings is available to listen to now on Audible. The War Between the Land and the Sea is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
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