While we still haven’t heard official confirmation that Jodie Whittaker is leaving Doctor Who, it’s looking likely that the upcoming season 13 will be her last in the TARDIS. If that proves true, then in line with every Doctor since David Tennant, Whittaker will have played the role for three seasons. Smart money says they’ll begin building to the change over the next run and either show her regenerating in the finale or as part of the 2021 holiday special.
But who’s going to be picking up the sonic screwdriver next? Well, we’ve been hearing some rumblings out of our sources in British television. Behind closed doors many actors are being considered for the part and the BBC will want someone locked in quite soon. Last week, we were told that Get Out and Black Panther star Daniel Kaluuya was being eyed, and now we’ve heard that Himesh Patel is under consideration as well.
Of course, Patel is best known in the United Kingdom for playing Tamwar on soap opera Eastenders, but since leaving that show, his star has begun to rise. He played the lead in hit Danny Boyle movie Yesterday and will appear in upcoming HBO Max series Station Eleven. More recently, he starred in Christopher Nolan’s Tenet as Mahir, the fixer who assists our heroes in stealing the crucial painting and later aids them in capturing Kenneth Branagh’s Sator.
At 30, Patel is the right age for the part, too, and seems to have something of the quirky, offbeat nature that’d make him a good Doctor. Also of note is that he’d be the first British Indian to play the role, which would be a nice publicity coup for the BBC.
In any case, the Doctor Who production staff are notoriously tight-lipped when it comes to keeping this particular secret. But, as we may find out over the next few months, not quite tight-lipped enough.
