When does Ncuti Gatwa make his ‘Doctor Who’ debut?

Ncuti Gatwa has had a heck of a 2023, as he’s starred in both the final season of the show that made his name, Netflix’s Sex Education, and he played one of the Kens in Barbie, the biggest movie of the year. And yet he’ll cap it off with an even bigger deal: seizing control of the TARDIS as our new Doctor Who.

Gatwa was announced to have been cast as the Doctor way back in May 2022, but since then the Doctor Who universe has got a lot more confusing. In October 2022 special “The Power of the Doctor,” Jodie Whittaker’s Time Lord regenerated into… David Tennant, which confirmed that the Tenth Doctor actor was returning, but this time as the Fourteenth Doctor.

So beloved legacy star Tennant is once again leading the sci-fi institution for its landmark 60th year, but where does this leave Ncuti Gatwa? When will the Fifteenth Doctor debut?

Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor Who debut, confirmed

David Tennant stars as the Fourteenth Doctor across three anniversary specials, releasing Nov. 25, Dec. 2, and Dec. 9. These will air on BBC One in the U.K. but will stream exclusively on Disney Plus internationally. Although Who fans just had to endure a full 13 months without any new episodes, the wait for more once this trilogy is done will hardly be any time at all as Doctor Who returns for a Christmas special on Dec. 25.

This, folks, is where Ncuti Gatwa is confirmed to make his first appearance. Titled “The Church on Ruby Road,” this special marks a new era for the series and sees Gatwa’s Time Lord meet his new companion, Ruby Sunday, as played by Millie Gibson. And yet, this being Doctor Who, the odds are Gatwa is going to get some screentime before this episode airs.

It’s long been tradition for the new Doctor to appear at the end of the last Doctor’s final episode. For example, how Tennant got a cameo in the closing moments of Whittaker’s finale. So, in actual fact, Gatwa will probably make his big Doctor Who debut in the Dec. 9 special, which is titled “The Giggle.” This is the one that will see the Fourteenth Doctor face off against Neil Patrick Harris’ much-anticipated returning villain, The Toymaker.

Once Ncuti is here, the good news is he’ll be in the TARDIS for a while. Not only is season 14 coming in the spring of 2024, he’s already confirmed that he’s sticking around for at least one more season. Long live the Fifteenth Doctor!