Doctor Who still has a way to go until its 60th anniversary festivities begin, which means that there’s still plenty of time for fans to speculate and learn more details about the massive celebration. While there haven’t been many official announcements about the specials as of late, it’s looking like we now have more possible evidence that incoming Doctor Ncuti Gatwa will have a role to play. While it originally seemed like David Tennant would be the lead throughout the entirety of them, a new post from Gatwa might suggest he'll be along for the ride as well.
Ncuti Gatwa took to Instagram recently and shared photos of the Doctor Who set, The Doctor’s new outfit, incoming companion actress Millie Gibson, and one other tidbit that fans might’ve missed. Take a look at the picture of the clapboard in the post, and continue on to find out how this relates to the upcoming anniversary celebration:
There’s a photo of the Sex Education alum as The Doctor on the clapboard but, as some might’ve noticed, he’s not wearing the same outfit he showed off in the photos from his post. Those actually look like the same clothes we saw his character wear in the only Who footage we’ve seen of him so far. Those who revisit that will notice that there’s someone else wearing those clothes earlier in the trailer, and that’s David Tennant’s incarnation of the Doctor.
So what does this mean? It seems like there’s a solid possibility that David Tennant’s Doctor will indeed turn into Ncuti Gatwa’s iteration. While that may sound obvious to some Doctor Who fans, there was some speculation about the special creating a multiverse within the show and in the proccess, possibly justifying multiple Doctors existing at once. One can't help but get the feeling that Tennant’s iteration of the hero will indeed regenerate into Gatwa’s version, but when will that happen?
Given the past regeneration trends, it’s possible that Tennant’s Doctor will turn into Gatwa’s before the end of the 60th anniversary special. Whether that occurs in the final moments of the show or somewhere midway through, we can’t say, but it's gradually looking like a possibility.
On the flip side, we’ve also seen Doctors take some time to get a new outfit after regenerating, so this could be the look he’ll rock for a bit in Season 14 until he gets those fresh threads that were teased on Instagram. Of course, it would be a bit of a bummer if we didn’t see the Barbie star until the 60th was all over but, much like the previous scenario, it could happen.
When Doctor Who’s 50th Anniversary happened, that special featured a brief look at Peter Capaldi’s Doctor ahead of his official debut. If the producers were able to include that cameo in one episode, I don’t see any reason why the upcoming multi-part programs would need to roll from start to finish without Ncuti Gatwa being involved in any way. We’ll just have to wait and see if that happens, though.
Continue to keep an eye out for more clues about all the Who we’ll be watching with Disney+ subscriptions later in 2023. Those wanting to catch Doctor Who via streaming right now can do so using an HBO Max subscription. Unfortunately, we’ll be waiting on new episodes featuring Ncuti Gatwa until late 2023, but it’s looking so far like the wait will be worth it.
