Doctor Who season 11 is finally starting to feel within reach. The BBC has at last began pumping out the promotion for the upcoming return of the show, with the first teaser trailer for the new run debuting over the weekend ahead of a full trailer to come this Thursday at San Diego Comic-Con.
Every new season of Who is a cause for celebration, but this one is especially important as it’ll see the debut of Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor, whose casting whipped up a storm last July. After 50 years of male leads, Whittaker is the first actress to take on the role of the Time Lord and the move was been universally praised.
For her part, Whittaker hopes her Doctor, the Thirteenth, will inspire girls to realize that they can also be the heroes of the story just as much as the boys. Though she praises past Doctors for never being the archetypal “chiselled superhero” in the first place, serving as the first female Doctor is still “a huge honour.”
“There’s the chiselled superhero that we’re used to seeing and we’ve all grown up with. But Doctor Who has never been that, which is wonderful. It’s attainable in so many ways. And now it isn’t just attainable for half of the population. The other half can be the Doctor as well. Girls will no longer just think, ‘Oh, I could be a companion’. Being the first female Doctor and showing children that their heroes in shows don’t always look the same is a huge honour for me.”
Having said that about the wider ramifications about her casting, Whittaker went on to add that she also feels liberated by playing the Doctor as she can only do it the way she wants to as an individual. She cites the total blank canvas you operate on when portraying a time-travelling alien as the key to the fun.
“In a way, though, there is liberation in that new direction: the pressure is less for me because I can only do this my way. All the rules are out the window! That’s what makes it so fun.”
Whittaker is joined in season 11 by her companions Tosin Cole (Ryan), Mandip Gill (Yaz) and Bradley Walsh (Graham), and we expect to learn exactly when Doctor Who will return – and a new generation of kids can be inspired – at SDCC this week.
