Matt Smith as the new Doctor.

Two weeks is nothing. It’s 14 days, a fortnight.

The good news is BBC America has officially announced Doctor Who is coming to America. The bad news: the U.S. premiere of the fifth season — and the introduction of Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor — won’t begin until Saturday, April 17th.

The new era of the BBC’s iconic BAFTA-winning drama, Doctor Who will  include 13 episodes and premiere two weeks after it airs in the UK. Smith debuts as the new, Eleventh incarnation of the famous Time Lord alongside a new traveling companion, the enigmatic Amy Pond (Karen Gillan).

“Britain has a tradition of reinventing its iconic characters, like James Bond and Sherlock Holmes – and Doctor Who. In introducing the Eleventh Doctor, writer Steven Moffat is opening the show to a whole new audience, while serving fans with an exciting mix of inter galactic, time travelling adventures. We can’t wait to meet his new Doctor!” comments Richard De Croce, Senior Vice President Programming, BBC America.

BAFTA-winning writer Steven Moffat, creator of some of the most frightening and award-winning Doctor Who episodes to date, takes over as lead writer and executive producer.  Writers for the new series include Richard Curtis (Love Actually), Chris Chibnall (Torchwood), Toby Whithouse (Being Human, Torchwood), Mark Gatiss and Simon Nye.

Guest stars include SAG Award winner Alex Kingston, Oscar nominee Sophie Okonedo and Tony Curran.

Traveling both through time and space, the new series has the mysterious Doctor and Amy Pond together exploring sixteenth century Venice, France during the 1890s and the United Kingdom in the far future, now an entire nation floating in space. The first three episodes of the 13-episode series have been confirmed as “The Eleventh Hour,” written by Steven Moffat, “The Beast Below,” also by Moffat and “Victory of the Daleks” by Mark Gatiss.