
He’s set to play the fifteenth official incarnation of The Doctor in the upcoming next full series of “Doctor Who,” and today, actor Ncuti Gatwa has offered up the first details on his approach to the role.
The “Sex Education” star takes over the role from Jodie Whittaker’s thirteenth version of The Doctor, who regenerated into David Tennant’s fourteenth incarnation at the end of the last series.
Tennant will play the role across three special episodes and will regenerate into Gatwa’s version at some point during that run (likely at the end of the final episode). Then Gatwa teams up with Millie Gibson’s new companion Ruby Sunday in the fourteenth official TV season of the show since its arrival.
The new run also marks the return of showrunner Russell T. Davies, who handled the series during the Tennant and Christopher Eccleston eras. Talking with Rolling Stone UK, Gatwa spoke about his version of The Doctor, which sounds most comparable to Tennant’s take:
“My Doctor is emotionally vulnerable. He hides it with humour, but he’s lonely. I can’t say much more than that; I don’t want to spoil anything. But he’s also energetic! The poor cameramen struggled to keep up.”
Gatwa also revealed to the outlet he had a surprise encounter with former series star Matt Smith who played the eleventh incarnation of The Doctor. The pair struck up a talk where Gatwa says he drunkenly revealed his casting to Smith by telling him: “I’m following in your footsteps”.
Whilst the series has been keeping fans up to date with costume photos, set pics, details on new cast hirings, and the like – actual storytelling details for the specials and full new season are under wraps. No official dates have been set as yet for launches of either the specials (beyond sometime in November) and the new season (sometime in early 2024).