Why Ncuti Gatwa Left Doctor Who After Two Seasons

"Doctor Who" has famously set up a perfect system to keep going as long as the ratings allow. Thanks to the regeneration ability of the Doctor, the series can simply kill and resurrect the main character whenever the actor departs the role for one reason or another. This has turned out to be an excellent, periodic way to shake up the status quo, as new actors (and showrunners) bring their own spin on the long-living role while keeping the show's most familiar traits intact. 

Sometimes, an actor occupies the role for quite a long time. For instance, Tom Baker, who played the Fourth Doctor from 1974 to 1984, appeared in no less than 178 episodes, and three other classic "Doctor Who" era actors (William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, and Jon Pertwee) also have three-digit episode counts under their belt. Other times, a Doctor's tenure is so short that it seems the fans barely got to know this version of the character.

While Ncuti Gatwa's Fifteenth Doctor certainly made his presence known during the fun, cheesy, and heartfelt Disney+ era of "Doctor Who," he only occupied the TARDIS for a total of 19 episodes spread across two seasons before the wild ending of the 2025 "Doctor Who" season finale. Gatwa's shock regeneration into Billie Piper (who previously played the Doctor's companion Rose Tyler) marked his abrupt exit from the show, and in a new interview with the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, the "Barbie" star has finally revealed why he chose to leave the role behind:

"Because I'm getting old and my body was tired. [The show] takes a lot out of you — physically, emotionally, mentally. So it was time."

Ngatwa, 32, may have spoken in jest about being too old for the role, but this certainly isn't the only time he's mentioned that playing the Doctor can be taxing. In a new interview with The Guardian, Ngatwa elaborated on the endearing but hectic nature of the relentless attention from the show's dedicated fandom:

"I'm quite good at shutting the noise out. It's loud. But it's very cool and exciting to be in the middle of this huge thing — there's haters, there's lovers, it's all going on. It is an absolute gift of a job, and a gift of a community. The Whovians are so deeply in my heart, I can't tell you." 

Of course, there's also the matter of "Doctor Who" rarely shying away from bringing back actors. The show's timey-wimey antics allow for just about any character — including previous incarnations of the Doctor — to return for a quick adventure or two any given time. 

What's more, in recent years the show has been known to cast actors who are already a part of the Whoniverse in completely new roles. Apart from the aforementioned Billie Piper situation, Peter Capaldi (who once had some harsh words about "Doctor Who" prop quality) played old-timey Roman patriarch Caecilius in the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) episode "The Fires of Pompeii" before taking on the role of the Twelfth Doctor. Likewise, Tennant himself returned in 2023 for three Disney+ "Doctor Who" specials as the freshly-regenerated Fourteenth Doctor. Ngatwa is well aware of this trend, and in the Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg interview, he suggested that he might also be willing to return at some point down the line:

"Never say never."