You’d think that the incoming regeneration of the current Doctor would be the biggest Doctor Who news of the year, but actually Jodie Whittaker’s incoming exit from the TARDIS has been massively overshadowed in recent months by all the excitement surrounding the show’s 60th anniversary celebrations next year. The reason why is because those involved in the 2023 birthday bash have been freely sharing sneak peeks and info with fans, while the BBC has been giving us diddly squat about the Thirteenth Doctor’s finale.
With the extra-special special coming next month, though, we’re at long last starting to be fed some crumbs. The episode’s title was recently confirmed to be “The Power of the Doctor,” and now the official Doctor Who social media accounts have shared this gorgeous new teaser image, which sees Whittaker’s Time Lord enveloped in glowing regenerative energy, hinting at her imminent and — we assume — heroic demise.
The teaser image also came with four fresh promo pics from the episode, which remind us of some exciting familiar faces who will drop by to see Thirteen off. Namely, Sacha Dhawan returns as mortal enemy the Master, as do Janet Fielding and Sophie Aldred as Tegan and Ace, two former companions not seen on the show since the 1980s.
While pleased that the hype train is finally starting to leave the station, Whovians couldn’t resist laying into the show’s publicity team for their tardiness.
Although some won’t be happy until we get a trailer.
“The Power of the Doctor” has previously been revealed to clock in at a feature-length 90 minutes, which certainly leaves a lot of room for outgoing showrunner Chris Chibnall to bring his era to a satisfying conclusion. He’ll then pass the buck to Who legend Russell T. Davies, who will be steering the series through Ncuti Gatwa’s tenure, not to mention David Tennant’s temporary return for the 60th.
Doctor Who returns, as part of the BBC’s Centenary celebrations, sometime in October.