With the third season of Jodie Whittaker as the titular character in Doctor Who inching closer and closer, Whovians are already thinking about who’ll replace the first female Doctor in the history of the BBC’s long-running sci-fi series.
After all, Whittaker’s predecessors, David Tennant, Matt Smith, and Peter Capaldi, all bowed out after three runs. For most people who take up the mantle and the sonic screwdriver, though, it’s no so much the pressure from the network but rather the exhaustive task of being the Doctor itself that pushes them to quit after three consecutive seasons.
Then again, it’s also worth noting that the show has managed to run this long on the merit of being able to regenerate itself every now and again, so the arrival of a new Doctor seems all but inevitable at this stage.
Whether current showrunner Chris Chibnall will write in Jodie’s regeneration during this year’s outing is anyone’s guess, but the new cover for Doctor Who Annual 2022, which you can see below, has driven fans over the edge with speculation, and many seem to surmise that this is the Thirteenth’s final run after all.
Doctor Who annuals are publications that incorporate all-new adventures and features for the current Doctor. Despite gracing the covers for two years, though, Jodie Whittaker’s 13th is absent in the 2022 sketch-up, which is very conspicuous, to say the least.
For now, after the revelation of the Timeless Child at the end of season 12, the current incarnation of the legendary Last of the Time Lords finds herself in the middle of an existential dilemma, not knowing who she is and where she belongs, which by all indication will be a complicated and long narrative to unravel. And since the COVID-19 pandemic has compelled the crew to film a shorter season, we might hope that the ex-Broadchurch actress will decide to stick around for a little while longer.