Doctor Who Season 11 Features a Rosa Parks Episode and an Alan Cumming Appearance

In a brilliant move, the premiere of Doctor Who Season 11 was broadcast simultaneously on both sides of the pond. That meant a VERY special ballroom of potential companions got to watch the episode together at New York Comic Con on Sunday, which is the only way to celebrate our love of all things Whovian. The crowd was filled with Thirteen's sonics already (which she built herself!!!) and throughout the episode Madison Square Garden lit up like the universe's best intergalactic concert and cheering overwhelmed a stadium sized sound system.

The panel that accompanied the screening might have been the most anticipated panel of NYCC, and fans lost their minds as the first woman to ever play the Doctor, Jodie Whittaker, came out to introduce the history-making episode. She was joined afterward for a Q&A by new showrunner Chris Chibnall (Broadchurch) and executive producer Matt Strevens to answer all the Whovians' burning questions about where the rest of season will take us.

The biggest reveals in the Q&A involved casting and some famous historical characters that we'll be meeting this season. Chibnall teased a Rosa Parks episode which according to the showrunner will be Episode 3 of the series. No word if Claudette Colvin will show up, but knowing the Doctor, there will likely be some pointed sass if she doesn't.

The other big NYCC exclusive was a highlight reel of all the season's biggest guest stars including, the one, the only ALAN CUMMING! No word on who he's playing yet, but it's someone who's been dead for a loooooooong time if his costume is anything to go by. Perhaps a English king of yore, Cumming appeared in one brief shot looking gorgeous and regal in aristocrat's clothing.

The series, which first premiered in 1963, was successfully rebooted in 2005. Whittaker plays the thirteenth iteration of the Doctor, an alien who occasionally regenerates with a new face and plucky attitude every few seasons. The erstwhile Time Lord's escapades through space and time are only guaranteed to be bigger and bolder this season with not one but three human companions along for the ride.

And don't worry, if you missed the world premiere Sunday afternoon, you can catch an encore presentation in the show's regular time slot of 8/7c on BBC America. The rest of us will be over here figuring out down to the second how much longer we'll have to wait for Episode 2.

Doctor Who airs Sundays at 8/7c on BBC America