Doctor Who gave Jodie Whittaker, a.k.a. the Thirteenth Doctor, a sendoff full of action and heartwarming cameos from days gone by. While many fans assumed that we would get our first glimpse of Ncuti Gatwa, whom we’ve been mostly calling Fourteen until now, that was not the case. In a surprising yet unsurprising (after seeing the episode) move, Thirteen regenerates into a former version of The Doctor. Now, we have a very confused Tenth Doctor (hello David Tennant) wondering what is going on. It left fans wondering where Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor falls in the lineup.
No worries, Whovians, he is not a rogue version of The Doctor. Ncuti Gatwa will portray the Fifteenth Doctor, with David Tennant officially being the Fourteenth Doctor. It is very wild.
We got this confirmation from none other than returning showrunner Russell T Davies himself. Here’s what he had to say about Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor, David Tennant’s return, and more:
If you thought the appearance of David Tennant was a shock, we’ve got plenty more surprises on the way! The path to Ncuti’s Fifteenth Doctor is laden with mystery, horror, robots, puppets, danger and fun! And how is it connected to the return of the wonderful Donna Noble? How, what, why? We’re giving you a year to speculate, and then all hell lets loose!
And boy, do Whovians love to speculate. It will be interesting to see what theories people come up with and why. This return to Tennant’s Doctor as Fourteen does make sense in a couple of ways. First, we saw the Master mess with Thirteen’s regeneration cycle, so we knew it would probably affect her in some profound way.
And, with next year being the 60th anniversary of Doctor Who, we can expect lots of wonderful fanservice in those specials. That is a lot to put on a new Doctor while trying to fully establish who they are. It is a nice bridge of sorts that will lead us into what we are calling the Bad Wolf era, giving Ncuti Gatwa a fresh new slate to start on as the Fifteenth Doctor. And we love him already from this very short clip where he, like us, wants to know what the hell is going on.
We cannot wait to see him take over the TARDIS as Doctor Who continues to make history.