The Power Of The Doctor Trailer: The Thirteenth Doctor Fights Her Final Battle
It's been five years since Jodie Whittaker was cast as the first female Doctor on "Doctor Who," and now her stint as the titular Time Lord is at an end. "The Power of the Doctor" is the last of three TV specials in 2022 to wrap up Whittaker's tenure as the Thirteenth Doctor. The actress has teased that her final "Doctor Who" outing is "one for the Whovians" (not to be confused with the residents of Whoville in Dr. Seuss), and now the BBC is here to cater to the same audience with the trailer for "The Power of the Doctor."
After co-starring in "Broadchurch" with the Tenth Doctor, David Tennant, Whittaker made her first appearance as the Thirteenth Doctor in the 2017 Christmas special, "Twice Upon a Time." Her time as the Doctor has coincided with that of showrunner Chris Chibnall, who said that he and Whittaker made "a 'three series and out' pact" when they boarded the long-running science fiction series. Whittaker inherited the role of the Doctor from Peter Capaldi, starring in "Doctor Who" from the 11th series in 2018 to the 13th series in 2021, so she and Chibnall have already made good on their pact, and these three 2022 specials are just coming as a bonus.
If "breaking up is like knocking over a Coke machine," as Jerry Seinfeld once said, then substitute a police callbox for the Coke machine and consider this the final tipping-over of the TARDIS before the Doctor regenerates with the face of another actor. Check out the trailer for "The Power of the Doctor" below.
The Power of the Doctor trailer
I'll confess that I'm not a Whovian and have only ever seen one episode of the show; what I know of "Doctor Who" is limited to what I've read in industry news or heard from other enthusiastic viewers. So I'm not the best person to offer commentary on this trailer for "The Power of the Doctor," though I think it's safe to say we haven't seen the last of Whittaker. "Doctor Who" has served as a launch pad for a number of other actors who remain well-known outside the franchise.
Right now, you can see the Eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith, on another one of the biggest shows on television, HBO's "House of the Dragon," which happens to co-star David Tennant's son, Ty Tennant. Meanwhile, the Ninth Doctor, Christopher Eccleston, was recently cast in the fourth season of "True Detective" on the same network, where he also co-starred in three seasons of "The Leftovers."
The aforementioned Twelfth Doctor, Peter Capaldi, has landed himself in serial killer jail in the upcoming Prime Video series, "The Devil's Hour," while Tennant is fresh off a starring role in BBC One's "Inside Man," which hits Netflix on October 31 and is written by former "Doctor Who" showrunner Steven Moffat.
The moral of the story is: the power of each Doctor extends well beyond "Doctor Who." So if you're sad about Whittaker leaving the show, know that she'll probably regenerate in another movie or TV series just as surely as the Doctor will regenerate as "Sex Education" star Ncuti Gatwa.