Even before Jodie Whittaker was cast as the Thirteenth Doctor, we already had an inkling that Doctor Who would get its first ever female lead this time around. A number of famed actresses were linked with the role, including Fleabag‘s Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Olivia Colman, Tilda Swinton and more. It turns out some of them could well have actually auditioned for the part, too, as Whittaker has now confirmed that she was exclusively up against other women.
Speaking to Rolling Stone, the Broadchurch star revealed that new showrunner Chris Chibnall only ever considered casting a female for the next Doctor. That said, she still remains in the dark about who exactly was up for the job against her.
“I have no idea who, but I know I was up against other actresses. It was very much that [Chibnall] was auditioning people for the first female Doctor.”
Whittaker then touched base again on why she feels her gender is not the be-all and end-all of her interpretation of the Doctor. In fact, she feels like her “gender is irrelevant” to how she’ll portray the Time Lord.
“I’m playing an alien and gender is not a part of that. A moment like this of being the first woman cast as something, it makes you really think about your sex, whereas actually what you want to do is play a part where your gender is irrelevant. I am a woman, so I don’t need to play that. And so for me, this was the most freeing experience because there’s no right or wrong way to do it. The rules went out the window.'”
This echoes what the actress has previously said about her casting not being a political move and that the character will fundamentally stay the same despite now being a woman.
We’ll first see Whittaker take control of the TARDIS when Doctor Who returns at Christmas for Peter Capaldi’s swansong, “Twice Upon a Time.”
