The BBC has released an action-packed trailer for its new Doctor Who spinoff, Class, about students at Coal Hill Academy who negotiate high-school angst while battling supernatural evil.

Out YA author Patrick Ness (Chaos Walking), is crafting the series: In June, when it was first announced, he shared that one of the main characters was openly gay and had a boyfriend.

"Kind of astounded that having a gay lead on Class has been such big news," he tweeted. "One day it won't be, one day soon because it's not a big deal. One way to change the world is to act as if it's already changed. That's how I roll, that's how Class rolls."

"Except of course it is a big deal, I know," he added "15-year-old me never got to see himself; that won't happen again, not on my watch."

Judging from the trailer, that student is Charlie, played by Greg Austin.

Austin is joined by Fady Elsayed, Sophie Hopkins, Vivian Oparah and Katherine Kelly, who plays mysterious physics teacher Miss Quill.

“Coal Hill was featured in the very, very first episode of Doctor Who in 1963—his granddaughter went there,” Ness told the audience at New York Comic Con.

“The school has appeared in the show many times over the years. And with all of the activity that’s taken place there, it’s become a little bit of a magnet for things."

Will Class feature lots of Doctor Who characters and villains? While the current Doctor, Peter Capaldi, pops up in the trailer, Ness says he's hesitant to flood the new series with old favorites.

“I think cameo appearances are like penises,” he said, earning laughter from the audience. “If you put it in the scene it’s all people are going to look at. So you have to have it there for a really, really good reason... I don’t want anything to take away from the story.”

Class premieres in the UK on BBC3 on October 22 and in the U.S. on BBC America in spring 2017.