So much attention has been paid to all of the hot takes and reactions to Jodie Whittaker’s casting as Doctor Who that few have stopped to ask the question: just what does the Broadchurch actress make of landing such a historic role?
For the first time in the show’s decorated history, Doctor Who series 11 will be headed up by a female Time Lord, though it seems Whittaker herself hasn’t spent much time worrying about the Doctor’s gender – it is an alien, after all. And that’s a train of thought that the actress echoed during a recent interview with Rolling Stone (with a tip of the hat to DoctorWho.tv).
Perhaps in a bid to cut through all of the white noise, Jodie Whittaker hoped the issue of gender would be rendered “irrelevant” once Doctor Who returned – after the 2017 Christmas Special, of course – before admitting that the “rules went out the window” on that fabled day back in July.
Granted, for all of the tantalizing teasers littered throughout Whittaker’s comments, firm details on the upcoming Doctor Who transition likely won’t be revealed until closer to the premiere of “Twice Upon a Time” on Christmas Day.
Still, her interview with Rolling Stone makes for some interesting reading nonetheless:
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.
Between Peter Capaldi’s departure and Whittaker’s subsequent arrival, “Twice Upon a Time” has all the makings of a bona fide tear-jerker. Once all is said and done, though, and the Thirteenth Doctor has been revealed in earnest, Jodie Whittaker’s first season as Doctor Who will enter pre-production ahead of a release late next year.
