BBC Responds To Rumors Of Jodie Whittaker Quitting Doctor Who After Season 13

Yesterday, Doctor Who fans got some sad but not unexpected news. According to a report in British tabloid The Mirror, Jodie Whittaker is set to wrap up her tenure as the Thirteenth Doctor in season 13 and the BBC are already beginning to cast her replacement. As their source tells it:

“It’s all very hush-hush but it is known on set that Jodie is leaving and they are gearing up for a regeneration. … Her departure is top secret but at some point over the coming months the arrival of the 14th Doctor will need to be filmed. It’s very exciting.”

For anybody paying attention to how the show works, this won’t be a huge surprise. Every Doctor since David Tennant’s Tenth has gotten three seasons and there was no reason to think Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth would be any different. The news leaking doesn’t look great for the BBC, though, who generally run a pretty tight ship when it comes to spoilers.

A few hours after the story broke, they gave a terse response to it, simply saying:

“We won’t be commenting on any speculation around Jodie’s future on the show.”

An interesting side note is Whittaker’s response when asked about her next big roles in a recent interview by Entertainment Weekly, with the actress stating:

“As far as I’m concerned, right now, I’m the Doctor and that’s taking up everything of me, as an actor, and to think something beyond that, I can’t put my head there, and I don’t want to.”

You don’t have to read too far between the lines to see that this is a tacit confirmation that she’s preparing to shoot her final season in the TARDIS. But just because Whittaker’s Doctor is scheduled to regenerate that doesn’t mean she’ll never appear on the show again.

2023 will see Doctor Who’s 60th Anniversary and it’s all but certain we’ll get a multi-Doctor episode. Let’s hope she’ll return alongside David Tennant, Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi. Also, given that Christopher Eccleston has finally dipped his toe back in the franchise with a series of Big Finish audio dramas, maybe he’ll appear, too.

Production on Doctor Who season 13 is now underway and the eight episodes are expected to air this Fall. Meanwhile, you can watch the recent New Year’s Special, “Revolution of the Daleks,” on the BBC iPlayer.