We still don’t know who will replace Doctor Who star Jodie Whittaker as the titular time-traveler when the Doctor regenerates into a new version of the sci-fi icon in an episode which will screen later in the year. But we do now know that Whittaker’s finale will feature an array of returning characters, some of whom date back to before the show’s 2005 relaunch, thanks to a trailer which aired after Sunday’s “Legend of the Sea Devils” special episode.
Ben Blackall/BBC Studios/BBC America Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor on ‘Doctor Who’
The clip teases that the Doctor, Mandip Gill’s Yaz, and John Lewis’ Dan will face-off against Daleks, Cybermen, and the latest iteration of the villainous Master, who has been played by Sacha Dhawan since 2020. The clip also features footage of comparatively recent Doctor allies Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave) and Vinder (Jacob Anderson). The really big news is the return of actresses Janet Fielding and Sophie Aldred, who played “companions” of the Doctor way back in the ’80s. Fielding portrayed Australian air steward Tegan Jovanka opposite Tom Baker and Pater Davison’s Fourth and Fifth Doctor respectively while Aldred played the character of Ace alongside Sylvester McCoy’s Seventh Doctor. While the show regularly brings back characters who viewers first encountered after the show’s 2005 return it is rare for the series to have actors reprise roles from the period prior to the show’s shelving in 1989, although Baker did essentially bring back his Fourth Doctor for 2013’s 50th anniversary special “The Day of the Doctor.”
The BBC announced in July that Whittaker would leave the show after last year’s six-episode season and this year’s three special episodes, of which “Legend of the Sea Devils” was the second.
“I’ve shot my version of regen, and it was singularly the most emotional day on set I think I’ve ever had,” Whittaker told EW last year. “It’s a really bizarre feeling, because it’s the best time I’ve ever had on a job, and I made the decision to leave it, so it’s a really strange thing to do to yourself. It feels like you’re giving yourself stitches — like, ‘Why have you done it?’ But… it felt right. It was a wonderfully-celebratory-slash-grief-ridden day that I could spend with the family that I’d made. I suppose the best thing about it is that the episodes are still on. So until they’re off, I don’t have to really get my head around the fact that it’s not my part!”
Watch the trailer for Whittaker’s final show below.
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