Actress Carole Ann Ford, who plays the Doctor’s granddaughter, described an unused scene she filmed for the Doctor Who Season Two finale, The Reality War while being interviewed by fellow Doctor Who actress Katy Manning at Club Parramatta in Sydney, Australia on 12 October 2025.

Manning introduced the question of Susan’s origins by asking Ford about her Doctor Who character Susan, “Did you know who your mummy was?,” Ford answered by describing a scene she filmed with Sienna-Robyn Mavanga-Phipps, who played the Doctor and Belinda’s (Varada Sethu) daughter Poppy — brought into being by a wish.

“You didn’t see the episode which was to sort of introduce my coming back, where I was holding hands with a little — beautiful little tiny black child, three years old. And we were watching through the window somewhere where the audience wasn’t supposed to know where we supposed to be. And we were watching by newly-embodied grandfather, who was now Ncuti [Gatwa], and watching him have a wonderful time singing and dancing in a party in a shop opposite where we were. And obviously I, my character Susan, was longing to just go there and fling her arms around her grandfather and say, ‘Grandfather, how lovely to see you after all this time and how did you survive your floating about in space… and why have you changed?'”

A still from this cut scene showing the Doctor and Belinda at a party was curiously posted for the finale episode The Reality War on Disney+.

“Anyway, that was unfortunately not to be — for reasons I know and will not disclose,” Ford continued.

The reason may very well be that there were reshoots in early February 2025 at a residence in Penarth, Wales which established that the Doctor’s time shifting to save Poppy’s life, precipitating his regeneration, made Poppy the daughter of Belinda and a human man.

The Doctor sadly realises that Poppy is 100% human and no longer his daughter. This now makes it impossible for Poppy to be Susan’s mother so the scene Carole Ann Ford described could not be shown.

The reshoots may have been the result of a change of plans regarding Ncuti Gatwa’s role in the show. In June 2024, there was talk of Gatwa returning to film a third series. By September 2024, it became clear that a third series would not be able to begin production as early as previously hoped. It’s unclear whether Gatwa knew about the production delay when he mentioned filming a third series in October 2024.

It wasn’t until The Reality War transmission on May 31 2025 that it was officially known that Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor regenerated and Ncuti Gatwa had finished his time on Doctor Who. It is speculated that the February 2025 reshoots were to film the regeneration and wrap up the Fifteenth Doctor’s story. The uncertainty about future series of Doctor Who may have played a role in Gatwa’s departure.

Disney, the company that streams Doctor Who on Disney+, has until the Doctor Who spin-off, The War Between the Land and the Sea transmits to decide whether to continue its agreement with the BBC. The 2026 transmission date of the spin-off is indeterminate — as is the timing of the BBC’s decision-making process regarding the future of Doctor Who following Disney’s decision.