It’s been all but confirmed that Ncuti Gatwa is out at the end of this season of Doctor Who, and rumors are beginning about who’s in consideration for being the next Doctor, with some surprising twists for the long-time sci-fi series.
Doctor Who has been in turmoil ever since its 60th Anniversary relaunch under Russell T. Davies as showrunner. The show has taken a hard turn into extreme leftist identity politics ever since the first episode, where Davies unveiled a black, transgender “Rose” to lecture the Doctor on being “male-presenting.”
It only became worse as they turned the Doctor gay and black with Ncuti Gatwa, and then as a companion, Millie Gibson left the show after just one season, confirming rumors that the actors were done with Who that dated back to even before the first season aired.
This year, more rumors surfaced that Gatwa would be out after this second season of Doctor Who, filming only sixteen episodes because he wanted to pursue a career in Hollywood and didn’t like dealing with all of the negative backlashes the show had gotten. These rumors sounded more accurate as there was no Christmas Special scheduled for this year, despite it being a Doctor Who tradition.
Ratings haven’t helped matters either, as this year features three of the lowest-rated episodes of Doctor Who of all time already, with most of the fanbase having tuned out. The show’s theme this season has been a bizarre one of attacking fans and critics, which hasn’t helped matters of the long-time Doctor Who enthusiasts.
Now, Reddit has come forward with rumors about the new Doctor Who, claiming there will be a sixteenth Doctor, and there are already moves to cast the actor to play the character.
Multiple posts on r/DoctorWhoNews have suggested that casting has begun for a new 16th incarnation of The Doctor.
One said, “A few reliable sources on Gallifrey Base and the Doctor Who leak discord channel have recently shared that Richard Gadd and Ambika Mod are apparently two of the actors being considered by the BBC to replace Ncuti Gatwa who will depart the show later on this season. The source also heard that actresses Sade Malone and Agnes O' Casey were was brought up in earlier discussions, but they're not sure if anything came of it. The BBC and RTD now have a clear idea of where the show is going (whether this means the Disney plus deal is still going ahead is still in question) and are now starting to begin that process of finding a new Doctor.”
Another posted, “According to another leaker (who may or may not be the infamous Andrew), it turns out 15s open-ended regeneration may not be as open-ended as we thought it was going to be, and the 16th Doctor has apparently been cast - according to Andrew she is ‘female and familiar’.... Make of that what you will....”
This led to several other posts speculating that the new Doctor was going to be cast as the beloved Billie Piper, part of which allegedly came from an infamous “Andrew” who has leaked a lot of Doctor Who information in the past.
Billie Piper played the original companion, Rose, alongside Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant, and was a significant part of why many fell in love with the reboot. They gave the character an ending in another universe to satiate fans, and this rumor to bring her back is interesting because it would double down on turning the Doctor female once again, but doing so in a way that might satiate fans because of their predilection to like the actress already.
With Doctor Who in such dire straits as a franchise right now, doing something like this could be a marketing gimmick to get attention in the media and among fans, though such gimmicks don’t help much beyond short-term boosts.
Further compounding these rumors are more that Russell T. Davies is out as showrunner at the end of this season and that the BBC has not found a funding partner, with Disney having not re-upped their deal as of yet.
Whether these rumors are true or not, these are turbulent times for the Doctor Who franchise for this rumor even to be something people are considering possibly to be true.
What would you think of Billie Piper being tapped to play The Doctor in Doctor Who? Leave a comment and let us know.
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Blech.
Why not have the new regeneration be Romana?
I am >>genuinely<< shocked - shocked I tell you! - that the next Doctor Who wasn't Dylan Mulvaney.