After months of waiting, the BBC has finally released the teaser trailer for season 13 of “Doctor Who” which will mark the last season of Jodie Whittaker as Doctor.
This will also mark the end of Chris Chibnall’s time as the showrunner of the series. He will pass the torch back to showrunner Russell T. Davies in 2023. Davies picked up “Doctor Who” after the show’s 16-year hiatus and ran the show during the time of Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant, whose tenure was extremely popular among fans.
Although some fans have been critical of the show’s many standalone episodes, each of the eight episodes in this season will be connected to one larger story: stopping the “Flux” that the Doctor teases in the new teaser trailer.
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New Teaser
In a new teaser trailer, the Doctor provides a stern warning from the control room of the TARDIS.
“Can you hear me?” she asks in the twenty-second long clip. “Listen carefully. We don’t have much time. The Flux is coming. It’s bringing with it the Sontarans, Weeping Angels, creatures known as the Ravages, and enemies from across the universe. This is the fight of our lives.”
“Doctor, we need you!” calls out new companion Dan.
“I can’t hold it much longer, Doctor!” Yaz adds.
“It’s coming,” the Doctor warns. “Be ready.”
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New Characters
The new companion, Dan, is played by comedian John Bishop, although not much is yet known about his character or how he joins the Doctor on her adventures.
The only companion making her return from previous seasons is probationary police officer Yaz Khan, played by Mandip Gill, who has been a companion to Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor ever since her arrival.
She had been previously accompanied by warehouse worker Ryan Sinclair (Tosin Cole), and Ryan’s stepgrandfather, Graham O’Brien (Bradley Walsh). Both Ryan and Graham left the Doctor last season.
Not seen in the teaser is a new character played by 31-year-old English actor Jacob Anderson, who is best known to fans as Grey Worm on HBO’s “Game of Thrones.” The news was announced at San Diego Comic-Con and introduced Anderson as a new character called Vinder.
“I get to play one of my favorite people that I’ve ever played,” Anderson said at the panel. “This is a real-life childhood dream, to be a part of ‘Doctor Who,’ and even more so to be in Doctor Who with Jodie, and Chris, who I’ve worked with before, and meeting Mandip and John… it’s a dream come true.”
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‘Part Of A Bigger Whole’
Due to the difficulties of filming under COVID-19 protocols, it almost seemed unlikely that the season was going to happen at all. However, the series was shortened to eight episodes, which will fall together to present a single, unified story.
“Before we started making it, there were times when we thought we were going to be unable to do the show under COVID conditions this year… there were two ways you could go,” Chibnall explained. “You could go ‘let’s do lots of tiny little episodes in one room, with no monsters,’ or we could throw down the gauntlet and do the biggest story we’ve ever done. We’re going to go to all kinds of different places, we’re going to have all kinds of characters and monsters, and it’s all going to be part of a bigger whole. It’s definitely the most ambitious thing we’ve done since we’ve been on the series.”
Whittaker added, “It’s felt really emotional to come back because we’re the lucky ones who get to go to work… but it also means this feels so precious, and so fun, because of what we’ve all come out of. In that, it’s always a little bit method, whatever you’re going through you can bring into your character. So whatever huge, emotional challenges we go through, I’m lucky that I can throw that into the Doctor—because it’s always required for the Doctor.”
Season 13 of “Doctor Who” begins on October 31, 2021, on the BBC and BBC America.
