According to UK newspaper The Mirror, Jodie Whittaker is quitting the historical sci-fi TV series Doctor Who when Season 13 ends.
Jodie Whittaker is looking to follow in the tradition of the “three seasons and exit” structure that has been a long-time thing with Doctor Who. Other Doctors to leave after three runs include: William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Peter Davison, Sylvester McCoy, Matt Smith, and Peter Capaldi. Whittaker’s exit will continue this tradition, leading to a 14th regeneration for the Doctor Who character. Whittaker is one of the longer serving Doctors in the recent revival at 5 years in the role, mostly due to delays in shooting new episodes.
One insider said: “It’s all very hush-hush but it is known on set that Jodie is leaving and they are gearing up for a regeneration.”
“Her departure is top secret but at some point, over the coming months, the arrival of the 14th Doctor will need to be filmed. It’s very exciting.”
Insiders claim Whittaker is keen to take on other roles once her time as The Doctor ends.
Filming on the current run of the BBC sci-fi show is due to finish this summer in the UK, and it will air in the autumn TV season. The 13th season of the revived Doctor Who has been cut to eight episodes, instead of its usual ten episodes, because of Covid restrictions slowing down the production.
While Whittaker is ready to up and leave the role, which she has enjoyed since being announced as the newest Doctor in 2017, it looks like controversial showrunner/writer Chris Chibnall will be staying on with the show, despite stating that he is having issues with his vision being realized on the show thanks to the BBC taking management edicts to Chibnall to include more older Doctor Who references and villains into the show after Doctor Who ratings tanked during Seasons 11 & 12.
Whittaker will follow Graham O’Brien (played by Bradley Walsh) and Ryan Sinclair (played by Tosin Cole) in departing the TARDIS this season. Walsh and Cole made their departure from Doctor Who in the New Year’s Special “Revolution of the Daleks”, with Walsh moving onto presenting roles on the shows “Cash Trapped” & a revival of “Blankety Blank” respectively, and Cole moving onto a role in “61st Street” and other movie roles.
Replacing Walsh and Cole is UK comedian John Bishop, playing a new character “Dan”. Doctor Who showrunner Chris Chibnall revealed that the character of Dan was created especially for Bishop, adding: “It’s time for the next chapter of Doctor Who, and it starts with a man called Dan. Oh, we’ve had to keep this one secret for a long, long time. Our conversations started with John even before the pandemic hit. The character of Dan was built for him, and it’s a joy to have him aboard the TARDIS.”
Bishop has called joining Doctor Who “an absolute dream”, saying: “If I could tell my younger self that one day I would be asked to step onboard the TARDIS, I would never have believed it. It’s an absolute dream come true to be joining Doctor Who and I couldn’t wish for better company than Jodie and Mandip.”
So it looks like Whittaker’s exit from the title role of Doctor Who is the latest in a long line of changes for the long-running series. With Whittaker leaving, there are already rumors and speculation about who the next Doctor is going to be, with people also wondering if the show will go back to a male Doctor, continue with the change of having a female Doctor, or maybe even a non-binary or transexual Doctor. Considering Chibnall controversially changed the entire background of The Doctor, and the whole Gallifreyan race, in the events of the episode “The Timeless Children”, which saw another Doctor from the past that was never mentioned before confirm that there have been millions of versions of The Doctor of all types instead of the 14 iterations we have come to know through the series.
Doctor Who is due to release season 13, the final for Whittaker, sometime during autumn 2021 (Between September to December 2021) via BBC television.
