The TARDIS finally dissolved in departure from the realm of wild speculation upon the official announcement of Doctor Who’s fourteenth official headliner, who we now know to be Ncuti Gatwa. While the surprise news, which arrived on a sleepy Mother’s Day Sunday, may leave fans further frothing in anticipation for more intel on Gatwa’s incoming manifestation of the long-lived Time Lord, it also illuminates the future path of the venerable sci-fi franchise.
Besides the obvious development of the Doctor Who franchise getting its first (permanent) Doctor of color, the casting of Ncuti (pronounced “shooty”) Gatwa might surprise fans who presume that he’s too young. The easily mistaken impression stems from Gatwa’s recent breakthrough playing an audacious teenager on Netflix’s 2019-2021 coming-of-age comedy series, Sex Education, on which he played Eric Effiong, the gay best friend and constant cohort of Asa Butterfield’s straight main character Otis Milburn. Regardless, the comedic, sometimes-dramatic series-stealing breakout role catapulted Gatwa from relative obscurity in a handful of British miniseries roles into timeline-transcending immortality as the Fourteenth Doctor, replacing outgoing Thirteenth star Jodie Whittaker.
At 29 years old, the Rwandan-born Scottish actor, Gatwa, will arrive as a relatively young version of the Doctor, even considering the fact that he’ll be 30 by the time of a loosely slated 2023 debut. However, he’ll hardly be the franchise’s youngest star since that distinction still belongs to Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith, who was 27 upon his January 2010 debut, followed by Fifth Doctor Peter Davison, who was 29 upon his March 1981 debut. Nevertheless, Gatwa purportedly won the role with exceptional vigor, as returning Doctor Who showrunner Russell T. Davies testifies.
“The future is here and it’s Ncuti!” declares Davies of his imminently arriving new Time Lord in a statement. “Sometimes talent walks through the door and it’s so bright and bold and brilliant, I just stand back in awe and thank my lucky stars. Ncuti dazzled us, seized hold of the Doctor and owned those TARDIS keys in seconds. It’s an honour to work with him, and a hoot, I can’t wait to get started. I’m sure you’re dying to know more, but we’re rationing ourselves for now, with the wonderful Jodie’s epic finale yet to come. But I promise you, 2023 will be spectacular!”
Interestingly enough, Gatwa’s Sex Education momentum (as showcased in the Netflix sizzle reel below) is already in effect for the actor, who also procured a role in a prominent project, the 2023-scheduled Barbie live-action movie, which will star Margot Robbie as the venerable doll-inspiring dream-house-dwelling blonde and Ryan Gosling as her plastic-cast partner, Ken. Perhaps by no coincidence, that film will also feature Gatwa’s similarly momentum-fueled series co-star, Emma Mackey. However, we can safely expect his post-2023 CV to become dominated by TARDIS time.
“There aren’t quite the words to describe how I’m feeling,” says Gatwa, humble in having procured the coveted role. “A mix of deeply honoured, beyond excited and of course a little bit scared. This role and show means so much to so many around the world, including myself, and each one of my incredibly talented predecessors has handled that unique responsibility and privilege with the utmost care. I will endeavour my utmost to do the same.” Yet, he conveys confidence in the incoming creative coalition, notably Davies, whose return to the franchise as showrunner—over a decade after his 2010 departure—has been embraced widely by vocal segments of the fandom who didn’t quite enjoy the recent tenure of showrunner Chris Chibnall, which, for vocal naysayers, was defined by odd creative choices and controversial retroactive changes to the Doctor’s long-held backstory.
Of course, while we still don’t know what kind of Doctor Gatwa will portray, one has to presume that elements of the loud, comedically driven, pop-culture-referencing persona he showcased as Eric on Sex Education—which brought him to this proverbial dance—will have some kind of influence on his headlining performance. In that sense, we could be set to witness a return to the kind of eccentric Doctors evocative of Fourth Doctor Tom Baker and, to a certain degree, the perennially popular Tenth Doctor, David Tennant, who, oddly enough, was speculated by many for a return for this upcoming cycle of the series, due to his enduring enthusiasm for the Doctor role and his working relationship with Davies.
Doctor Who will return sometime this autumn for the episode “Centenary Special,” which will serve as the final appearance of Thirteenth Doctor Jodie Whittaker, and, if conventions are followed, provide our first glimpse of Fourteenth Doctor Ncuti Gatwa. After that, the series will return with its brand-new star sometime in 2023.
