It’s official and the rumors were true: Jodie Whittaker will be acting in a new six-episodes series later this year (it will be one serialized story instead of 6 standalone episodes), and three specials episodes next year before she exits the series in autumn 2022, along with showrunner Chris Chibnall. The special episodes will be culminating in an epic blockbuster one to air in autumn 2022 as part of the BBC’s Centenary celebrations.
Chris Chibnall, who appointed the actress to replace Peter Capaldi in the role as the first female Doctor Who, has been in charge of the BBC One series since 2017.
The 13th Doctor’s first episode in October 2018 was watched by 11.5 million viewers, in the sci-fi drama’s biggest audience for almost a decade, but the show’s ratings have dropped in recent years. Jodie Whittaker’s last episode, broadcast in January, attracted a consolidated audience of 6.3 million.
For her final series Jodie Whittaker will be joined by Mandip Gill as Yaz and by comedian John Bishop, who will play a new character named Dan Lewis. Jacob Anderson (known from Game of thrones) will also have a recurring role as new character Vinder across multiple episodes while more casting announcements are still to be announced.
There are already some speculation about who the 14th Doctor might be, as Doctor Who approaches its 60th anniversary in 2023.
In the following Radio Times podcast the team dissects the new details including the casting of Jacob Anderson and the new serialized format for the series, as well as what the Comic-Con @ Home panel didn’t tell us about what to expect.
