BBC’s Doctor Who Actress Jodie Whittaker To Leave Role After Doctor Who Season 13!
Daily Mirror reports.
Doctor Who star Jodie Whittaker quits after three years as Time Lord
EXCLUSIVE: Doctor Who bosses are planning for the Time Lord’s fourteenth regeneration after Jodie Whittaker decided she will leave after the next series which airs in the UK in the Autumn later this year
Jodie Whittaker is quitting at the end of the next Doctor Who series, when she will regenerate into the 14th Time Lord.
The 38-year-old has told bosses she intends to stick to the traditional rule of leaving after three stints in the TARDIS, like the majority of her predecessors.
One insider said: “It’s all very hush-hush but it is known on set that Jodie is leaving and they are gearing up for a regeneration.
“Her departure is top secret but at some point over the coming months the arrival of the 14th Doctor will need to be filmed. It’s very exciting.”
Insiders claim Whittaker is keen to take on other roles.
The source said she will follow co-stars Bradley Walsh and Tosin Cole out of the door later this year, but showrunner Chris Chibnall is to remain.
Filming on the current run of the BBC sci-fi show is due to finish this summer and it will air in the autumn.
Bosses have already announced the series has been cut to eight episodes because of Covid restrictions slowing down the production.
Other Doctors to leave after three runs include William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Peter Davison, Sylvester McCoy, Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi.
David Tennant did the same, but extended his tenure with special shows. Whittaker, the first female ever cast as the Doctor, will find quitting an emotional moment.
She once said: “If I even think about leaving, it makes me cry. When it happens, I can pre-empt it will be my most devastating moment.
“I absolutely adore it. At some point, these shoes are going to be handed on, but it’s not yet. I’m clinging on tight.”
Tennant, who quit in 2008, has told how the most gut-wrenching scenes he filmed as the Doctor were for his exit.
Mum-of-one Whittaker was announced as the 13th Doctor in July 2017. She made her debut in the closing scenes of the Christmas special when she regenerated from Capaldi, who was shot by Cybermen.
Whittaker will have spent nearly five years in the role once her final series airs at the end of this year, having kept her casting secret for many weeks.
She said at the time: “It was a full military operation, I basically whispered for three months. It was getting really tedious that even in my own kitchen I was still talking like that.”
The actress has revealed landing the role was as tough as battling the Daleks.
She said: “It certainly was not handed to me on a plate. There was a long process, as there should be.
“They needed to make sure I was right for the part. You want someone who’s fighting for it, because it’s such an honour. You can’t just be blasé about it.”
Whittaker has previously starred in TV thriller Broadchurch and medical drama Trust Me.
She and Mandip Gill, who plays sidekick Yaz, will be joined in the next series by Scouse star John Bishop, who has already been spotted filming with returning warrior baddies the Sontarans…
…The one thing that ALL the Time Lords have in common is that they vary hugely from each other, regardless of gender.
The question remains, however, over whether the Doc stays in a female guise for the 14 incarnation…
In response to the story, BBC has provided a non response.
“We won’t be commenting on any speculation around Jodie’s future on the show.”
Doctor Who Season 13 is expected to debut in the Fall of 2021 and will include 8 episodes. It is not clear if Jodie Whittaker will exit before or after the anticipated New Year’s Day Doctor Who special on January 1, 2022.
