The inevitable rumors about the departure of the Doctor have been flying for a while—the typical side effect of a Doctor nearing their third season. Now, we have confirmation: Variety reports that Jodie Whittaker will end her run as the Doctor after the coming season. Showrunner Chris Chibnall is also leaving the series, meaning there’s a lot of change coming when Whittaker regenerates.
Whittaker became the first female Doctor in 2017, when she took over the role from Peter Capaldi. As is pretty much always the case, her casting was met with a mix of delight and skepticism, and every single thing about her was picked over, from her previous work to her costume. But Whittaker has been an absolute delight as the Doctor, leading a trio of regular companions and facing off against enemies new and familiar while putting her own spin on the Doctor’s complicated personality.
At the end of the last season, two of the Doctor’s companions departed the TARDIS for good, and the upcoming thirteenth season will introduce a new companion: Dan, played by John Bishop, whose casting immediately led to a frenzy of theories that he might somehow be the next Doctor. There’s no real reason to think that’s the case, but it wouldn’t be a Doctor Who casting announcement without a lot of wild theories.
Variety‘s report on Whittaker and Chibnall’s departure is somewhat confusing; it says “She will leave after her third season. She will appear in a six-part event serial as well as three specials before her time on the show is up.” This seems to suggest that the six-part serial is something separate from season thirteen, which was reportedly going to be eight episodes, and later revealed to be planned as a single story. Deadline says Whittaker and Chibnall will bring us the next season and three specials, so it seems like the Variety phrasing is just a little vague. It also sounds like the upcoming season might actually be just six episodes.
The three specials will land next year, and the last one will, of course, be our farewell to Whittaker.
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Until the Last of Me
BREAKING: Jodie Whittaker and Chris Chibnall to leave Doctor Who in a trio of Specials, culminating in an epic blockbuster Special to air in autumn 2022 as part of the BBC’s Centenary celebrations.
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— Doctor Who (@bbcdoctorwho) July 29, 2021
The news of a Doctor leaving is always a little bittersweet, and this is no exception. Fingers crossed they can find someone half as endearing to fill her shoes. Replacing Chibnall is also going to be a challenge; he’s only the third showrunner New Who has had, following Russell T. Davies and Steven Moffat, and it’s hard to imagine who might step into that role next.
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I have mixed feelings about this. I’ve loved what Whittaker has brought to the role, but the writing never quite gelled for me, so I’d have been into seeing her Doctor paired with a different showrunner.
I know that whoever is cast next will be great, because every actor who’s played the Doctor has been great, but I’m not looking forward to fan reaction over whoever the next actor is. I’d love for them to cast a woman and/or person of color, but I know that some fans will say “They should just cast whoever’s best,” and sometimes the vibe I get from that is, “Okay, you’ve had your token white non-male person play the role, now let’s get back to ‘normal’.” I’d love it if they managed to keep the surprise of who it was until the regeneration episode actually airs, though!
(On a semi-related note, I’ve always wanted to see a regeneration done mid-episode. I know that we want to keep the actor we love until the very last second, but I think it could be a great story to have the Doctor have to deal with their regeneration discombobulation during a stressful situation, instead of a stressful situation happening to start right after the regeneration. How you manage to give the current actor a nice goodbye moment would be tricky, though. Maybe instead you just make the episode a two-parter, with part 1 being a season-ending cliffhanger.
–Andy
From my reading of the actual press release, the 6-episode serial (and 2 specials) make up the 8 announced episodes of Series 13, and they’ve added one more special episode to bring the total to 9.
Chibnall’s departure is not a moment too soon.
Bit of a shame Whitaker won’t get a few episodes under a different showrunner. I can see why the actors generally don’t like to do that, but it might be interesting. She hasn’t impressed in the actual episodes, largely because Thirteen keeps being written as both ineffective and morally monstrous, but then in panels and other out-of-character moments Whitaker seems a delightful individual.
Fingers crossed for Jo Martin as 14, though.
This is disappointing. I would’ve liked to see Whittaker stick around longer. It would’ve been nice for the first female Doctor to have an exceptionally long run, to help balance the scales a bit. Although to really balance the scales, we’d need the next eleven consecutive Doctors to be female too. I mean, it’s only fair…
Seriously, I think at least Whittaker’s immediate replacement should be another woman, just to quell the inevitable speculation from the misogynists about a female Doctor being a failure or a one-time aberration. Or cast someone non-binary, even.
Chibnall leaving at the same time as his first and only Doctor is surprising. The last time we had a producer who only worked with a single Doctor was Graham Williams, whose tenure ended in 1980. And we’ve never had a Doctor and producer both arrive and depart together, unless you count the McGann TV movie (although that probably doesn’t count anymore since “The Night of the Doctor” brought McGann back briefly).
The output, even before Covid, was so erratic, it’s hard for me to care. I imagine the erratic filming schedule was part of the reason Whittacker is leaving. Her WHO contract is holding her career hostage with very little to show for it.
I’m sad to lose Jodie Whitaker, as the energy she brings to the role is always delightful. Less sad to see Chibnall go, as I can’t say that I’ve cared for the writing of late.
Of course, I said the same thing at the end of the Peter Capaldi era and then noticed how good it was only in retrospect.
@3,CL, Although to really balance the scales, we’d need the next eleven consecutive Doctors to be female too. I mean, it’s only fair…
Personally I’m totally up for that. We’ve had the pretty young blond,now let’s see some wild and wacky and OLDER women in the role! And please let’s see the Doctor enjoying her femininity! Playing with her look, trying out womanly wiles, embarrassing her companions! Let’s see a River Song like Doctor and a Ruth.
And please, please, please get better scripts!
Sad about Jodie but so happy to say goodbye to Chibnall
@6/roxana: Hm — I never would’ve thought of Whittaker as “the pretty young blonde.” I mean, she was 35 when she took the role, older than Peter Davison, David Tennant, or Matt Smith were when they debuted, though I guess that is toward the younger end of the range. And I have no strong opinion either way about her looks. That’s never been what’s appealed to me about her as a performer.
As for her being blonde, I find it distracting that she seems to have darker roots, even from the start. How did the Doctor regenerate with her hair already dyed?
If we are going with another female Doctor, I would hope to see either Jo Martin or Tilda Swinton. If we have to have another male Doctor, Rupert Grint would be wonderful in the role.
@3 & @6
I’m on board with the next eleven doctors being women AND older women. And to start the wish list of names, way back in season one of Killing Eve, when Fiona Shaw made her entrance, I thought, wouldn’t she be an outstanding doctor?!
mammam@10: Fiona Shaw would make an absolutely brilliant Doctor. On the older male side, I’ve often thought that Stephen Rea would make an interesting, world-weary Doctor.
(If you want to get even more depressed about humanity than you are already, you can visit the comments section of the BBC article on Whittaker’s departure. The usual suspects are out in force. Never read the comments.)
Along with diversity in casting, could we have diversity in writing? Personally I think “good” is wildly underrepresented.
I am really great the Doctor is gonna change now. The series has lost its magic since Matt Smith’s departure. But still I am hopeful for it to redeem itself.
Glad*
I have enjoyed Whitaker’s run, and will miss her. What I would like to see from the next Doctor is something more whimsical, and not just from the actor, but reflected in the writing and direction. Too much grimness and too much emphasis on massive stakes and destruction in the past few incarnations of the doctor..
Great news that Chris Chibnall is leaving – his tenure has been a waste of space.
Love Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor only wish she didn’t have to suffer from the lame and inadequate stories and lines that Chibnall’s team handed her.
I own and have watched and re-watched the new series of the Doctor since its ‘modern’ incarnation with Eccelston. But I suffered through the first two seasons of Chibnall’s Doctor and would never waste any time watching them again.
My own experience with the show started with Tom Baker back when I was much younger, I’m now a sprite 67. Then got the joy of seeing all of Jon Pertwee’s Doctor. Saw some of Peter Davidson, and of Colin Baker. Life just got in the way of viewing TV. I saw Paul McGann’s one-off and enjoyed it and look forward to his being the Doctor on TV. Once it all came back in a glorious rush in 2005 it has been wonderful. Until the train wreck that was and is Chibanll’s control of the series.
@9, Rupert Grint as The Doctor…..At last a ginger!
@17 – Heck, why not get Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe :D
Oooh, now I’m thinking Emma Watson…
Can we nominate Kate Herron for showrunner please?
Also Indira Varma would be a great Doctor.
By every rating metric Whittaker was a disaster.
(we never did get the Valeyard regeneration…)
The show has become way to Earth centric.
Need more aliens, alien starships, stations, planets, companions
and retcon the old show back into this universe
Here’s a wildcard choice for the next Doctor… Gillian Anderson?
Not amused. I think Jodie was terrific, and the writing wasn’t as bad as some people say, even if her 1st season was clearly the best written. But I am just NOT looking forward to another male Doctor, no matter who they cast. I’d rather have Alligator Loki from that series, or Admiral Ackbar. That would be cool. A visibly alien body. Alas, I firmly believe that there’s a snowball’s chance in the 9th Circle that Auntie Beeb will risk their franchise with 2 female Doctors in a row. Not gonna happen. We’ll be lucky to get 1 out of 4 or 5. I have read that the ratings in the UK dropped for Peter and dropped again for Jodie, but I don’t know if this is accurate. I hope that it isn’t. I also wish I knew more about how their global business was doing and how important it was to their revenue stream. I only care about these sordid details because they largely determine what we get to see.
Phoebe Waller-bridge as the next Doctor or next showrunner or both.
Won’t miss Chibnall: his tenure was spotty and the writing inconsistent, with many, many dumb concepts.
Jodie Whittaker, however, deserved more time to develop her Doctor. This pact she and Chibnall made of three series and done is BS.
“Three years” seems to have become the default tenure for every Doctor post-Tom Baker, so I guess it’s no surprise. The fact that Chris Chibnall has done his female Doctor thing and then left for someone else to decide what to do next is a bit more surprising, and does make him seem like a one-trick pony who had nothing in him except a gimmick, that’s worked but not exactly bowled everyone over with its brilliance.
@25, he didn’t even do much with the gender switch. Thirteen is basically like her male predecessors.
@25/cap-mjb: I’ve never been a fan of the “three years and done” standard for Doctors, especially since the BBC bosses at the time used it as an excuse to fire Colin Baker after only two seasons with a year off between them.
@26/roxana: Isn’t that the point, though? That a female Doctor is still just the Doctor, rather than some kind of She-Doctor defined solely by her gender?
I mean, how many past Doctors’ personalities have really been defined by their masculinity? Some of them could’ve easily been women. Heck, the Second Doctor dressed in drag on a number of occasions. He could just as easily have been a giddy aunt rather than just swearing on one. The Fifth Doctor was defined by his gentleness and vulnerability, things not generally touted as masculine traits. And it wasn’t until Paul McGann that they started to portray the Doctor as a romantic figure or a potential love interest for the companion.
@26 – exactly. i was so happy for a female doctor, i hoped for a “good missy”, but instead 13 is (was?) almost a genderless teenager jumping and screaming and smiling too much. i hate what the writers made her do. even the “costume” is absurd, i don’t remember capaldi or tennant wearing the very same outfit every single episode, and hers is funny , inconsequent and not at all feminine. they ridiculed and wasted a historic opportunity.
now they can say “see? people don’t want a female doctor, they don’t like jodie, now back to normal: male, white, straight.”
@27: Isn’t that the point, though? That a female Doctor is still just the Doctor, rather than some kind of She-Doctor defined solely by her gender?
the work they do with missy was remarkable and memorable, she was so feminine and sparkling and vain and at the same time cruel and hartless… why a master or a doctor shouldn’t be defined ALSO by gender, since they were always defined by being males? it’s like saying male is “normal”, female is not.
CLB, That’s one POV. Personally I think they should have done more with gender if they were going to bother to change it. 13 seems thrilled with her new sex, but that just goes away after the initial Brilliant! I found that disappointing myself.
Sad to see Jodie Whitaker leaving, though like the rest of the group I can’t say the same for the writer. Waited two seasons for Jodie to get the kind of defining Doctor moment they gave Matt Smith in his first episode. I really hope misogynistic fans aren’t the reason she’s leaving.
As for who should be next, Idris Elba. Mostly just because I thought his cancelling the apocalypse line from Pacific Rim sounded like a Doctor quote. Ruth also seems like a lot of fun. Unfortunately my knowledge of British actors mostly comes from Doctor Who so no other real suggestions.
Quietly hoping that Whittaker will make it to Big Finish, where some of their better writers can give her some of the stories she deserves. (And maybe a meeting with Kate Stewart…)
Bruce
Saoirse Ronan? I think she’d be outstanding as the Doctor!
Also @16 greyraven: Don’t you mean a waste of space and time?
I loved Jodie, I didn’t like Chibnall. There was none of the flair and wild imagination of the previous two showrunners, it was all a bit pedestrian. I hated the new look Tardis, it just seemed cluttered and small, with none of the space and imagination of previous iterations. Even Jo Martins Tardis looked better, and that was really old school basic. The music was serviceable but dull. All the previous Doctors and companions had their recurring themes, and when you watch the BBC Proms concerts you instantly recognise the music. It created a mood, and you knew when the Doctors theme suddenly boomed out and got fast things were about to get excited. I honestly couldn’t pick a single piece of music from the whole of Jodie’s run out of a lineup. Jodie is fun, and such a great person when you see her interviewed, it’s just a shame the showrunner didn’t have the flair to make her run more memorable.
a snowball’s chance in the 9th Circle
Funny you should say that – it was Dante who famously portrayed Hell with nine circles, of which the ninth was a lake of ice.
My personal feeling about Chris Chibnall’s tenure is that it’s been joyless – how much of that is down to him, and how much from other simultaneous changes made (such as Segun Akinola replacing Murray Gold) I couldn’t say.