Jodie Whittaker To Return As Doctor Who’s Doctor?

Jodie Whittaker says she is up to returning to Doctor Who if called upon.

By Matthew Creith | Updated

The British science fiction series Doctor Who has been on the air on and off since 1963, and the BBC show has seen various incarnation of the famous Doctor. Actor Jodie Whittaker joined the television series in 2017 as the thirteenth Doctor overall, becoming the first woman to headline the show after having costarred on the British crime drama Broadchurch with fellow Doctor Who actor David Tennant for several years.

According to a report by Screen Rant via Empire, Jodie Whittaker has confirmed that while she is currently exiting Doctor Who, she is game to come back to the series in the future as she has become a Whovian and loyal fan of the show.

Recently, Ncuti Gatwa has been announced to take Whittaker’s place in Doctor Who as he is poised to become the first black actor to play the pivotal role, even though Whittaker has hinted at the possibility that her character may come back to the series in some fashion.

Noting other former Doctors that have reappeared in the series after their departures, Whittaker seems game to come back to Doctor Who if future stories allow for it, although she expressed how difficult it was filming her final scenes as the Doctor.

Actor David Tennant, who played the Tenth Doctor in the series from 2005 to 2010, will be returning for the Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary special, so it leaves the door open for even more cast appearances from other incarnations of the show.

jodie whittaker
Jodie Whittaker as The Doctor

Before Jodie Whittaker became the thirteenth Doctor to appear on Doctor Who, the character she portrays has been well-established as an alias from an alien called Time Lord that travels in time and space in a time machine referred to as TARDIS, often with companions. Famous faces that have taken on the personas of the Doctor and their companions have included William Hartnell, Thor: The Dark World star Christopher Eccleston, House of the Dragon actor Matt Smith, DC Extended Universe performer Peter Capaldi, and now Ncuti Gatwa.

There has been an often regarded way that each actor transitions into the next performer playing the Doctor in the series, explained away using a regeneration technique where the Time Lords can transform, and many times die, thereby the succeeding actor can come in and replace them.

As Jodie Whittaker makes way for Ncuti Gatwa to assume the role in Doctor Who of the titular Doctor character, it will be interesting to see how Gatwa takes the plot to a new level within the series. Gatwa is mostly known for his work on the Netflix series Sex Education playing Eric Effiong, but he has also been tapped to costar in Masters of the Air alongside Elvis actor Austin Butler, Callum Turner, and Eternals star Barry Keoghan.

Produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, Masters of the Air is an upcoming war drama in the same vein as HBO’s Band of Brothers and The Pacific, meaning that Ncuti Gatwa may see his star on the rise when both Doctor Who and Masters of the Air debut his characters.