Doctor Who: Flux is heading for an ever bigger retcon than The Timeless Child. The show’s 13th season, entitled Flux, tells a single story spread across six episodes, following The Doctor as she fights to stop a force called the Flux, which threatens the universe itself. Doctor Who: Flux is the final full season for Jodie Whittaker and showrunner Chris Chibnall, who are both set to depart the series after a run of specials in 2022.
Chibnall’s time as showrunner has been highly divisive. While the casting of Whittaker as Doctor Who’s first female Doctor was largely celebrated, the series itself has been widely criticized for both the quality of the writing and the liberties taken with the show’s canon. Prior to Doctor Who: Flux, the Timeless Child retcon stood out as the biggest and most controversial change, essentially rewriting The Doctor’s history. While the change succeeded in creating a shocking twist, many viewers were left displeased with the sweeping revision of the show’s continuity.
While Chibnall’s time at the helm has thus far been defined by the Timeless Child retcon, Doctor Who: Flux is preparing to eradicate all of Doctor Who’s history by moving the show to an alternate universe. While traveling to a parallel universe is old hat for the series, with one such trip forming a brief arc during David Tennant’s time on Doctor Who, Chibnall looks poised to destroy the show’s original universe altogether. While the Timeless Child took an eraser to The Doctor’s history, this time Chibnall has the entire history of the show in his sights.
Flux is setting up a scenario where The Doctor will have to abandon the universe itself to survive. Season 13, episode 5, “Survivors of the Flux” finally established a few firm details about the mysterious Gallifreyan organization known as Division. “Division” refers to the division between universes, with Division operating as a powerful force across the entire multiverse. Division unleashed the Flux as a way of destroying The Doctor’s universe, and the Flux is only going to ravage the universe further, with less and less left to save. The Doctor’s only chance at survival might be to leave the universe itself behind, and the entire canon of Doctor Who with it.
It doesn’t appear that The Doctor will be escaping to an only-slightly-different parallel universe either. Speaking to The Doctor, Tecteun describes The Doctor as a “virus” in the so-called Universe One. The Doctor’s meddling presence threatens Division and they’re willing to destroy the entire universe to stop her. If The Doctor is a “virus” and Division is willing to change universes to stop The Doctor’s influence, that means this new universe must not have The Doctor at all. It’s not simply a hop to another universe where everything is the same except a sky full of zeppelins, it’s a hard reset.
If the Flux destroys Universe One with The Doctor escaping to a new universe, that means everything The Doctor has done thus far will disappear. Any impact The Doctor had on the Earth or any of the characters on Earth will be undone. The entire existing canon of the show will be dissolved by the Flux. With Doctor Who: Flux, Chibnall may be looking to top his own Timeless Chid retcon and leave the show with only a cosmic blank slate left.