Who’s Next? Doctor Who’s Peter Capaldi to retire after this season

 

Who’s Next? Doctor Who’s Peter Capaldi to retire after this season

Doctor Who fans around the world were shocked Monday night  when Peter Capaldi announced his plans to leave the long-running science  fiction show. Capaldi told BBC Radio’s Jo Whiley that this season will be his last as the time-travelling Time Lord from Gallifrey.  

A Good Time For A New Time Lord

It seems that Capaldi has mined everything he can creatively from the  role, telling Whiley that this was the right time to go after “new  challenges”. The Scottish-born Capaldi is a BAFTA and Academy Award  winning film, television, and stage actor. The demands of being the  Doctor may have left him little time for other acting opportunities.  Besides appearing in each season’s episodes, Capaldi is also expected to  appear at Comic-Con and Doctor Who conventions to promote the show.  

But there may be a reason besides professional growth. Long-time  producer Steven Moffat had already announced his departure after the  2017 season. Capaldi may have felt that this was the right time to leave  as it lets incoming producer Chris Chibnall place his own stamp on the  show from the beginning.  

The Doctor’s companion will provide continuity in the casting. Jenna  Colman left the show at the end of the last season. Bill Potts, played  by Pearl Mackie, will replace Clara Oswald as the Doctor’s companion in  this year’s episodes. We can expect her role to continue into the next  season as the new Doctor settles into his new body and personality.  

But Who Will The New Doctor Be?

To the good fortune of the TV show’s producers, the Doctor extends  his life by periodically “regenerating” into a new body. Capaldi  replaced actor Matt Smith in 2013 to become the twelfth Doctor in the  show’s fifty-four year history. Now the world awaits the Doctor’s  thirteenth incarnation.  

Capaldi’s selection as the Doctor did not come without some  controversy. A groundswell had built to end the traditional choice of a  white man in the role. Many advocated bringing ethnic diversity to the  role by choosing an actor such as Chiwetel Ejiofor (Serenity, 12 Years A Slave) or Idris Elba (Luther, Star Trek Beyond). Their names, as well as Richard Ayoade (The IT Crowd, The Boxtrolls) and David Harewood (Supergirl, Homeland), are on the list for the next Doctor.  

Others advocated ending male dominance by naming a woman to the role -  former companion Billie Piper’s name often came up. The series  producers have set a precedent for a female Doctor. The 2014 series saw  the return of the Doctor’s long-time nemesis, the Master. Formerly  played by actors like Derek Jacobi, this time the Master was the  Mistress, or Missy, and played by award-winning actress Michelle Gomez. Agent Carter’s Hayley Atwell and Harry Potter’s Emma Watson are some of the female actors with sci-fi/fantasy experience in the rumor mill.  

Those looking for a Millennial actor, however, may need to wait  another regeneration. Peter Capaldi’s was a rare instance of the Doctor  aging across incarnations. This gives the show’s producers flexibility  to pick actors in their thirties, forties, or even fifties.  

One thing that is not in doubt: speculation will rage across the  Internet. Three months passed between Matt Smith’s retirement and Peter  Capaldi’s selection. Will we have to wait even longer to learn the  identity of the new Doctor?