The following article contains major spoilers for "The Power of the Doctor," Doctor Who's third and final 2022 special, which aired Oct. 23 on BBC One.
The Fourteenth Doctor has officially arrived. However, it's not exactly who Doctor Who fans thought it would be.
In the newly-aired Doctor Who special "The Power of the Doctor," Jodie Whittaker's Thirteenth Doctor regenerates into the Fourteenth Doctor. However, the actor who emerges is not the expected Ncuti Gatwa. Rather, the Fourteenth Doctor is none other than David Tennant, who famously starred as the Tenth Doctor, pulling a Grover Cleveland, so to speak. Rest assured, Gatwa will still take up the mantle -- but he will actually be the Fifteenth Doctor.
In the regeneration scene itself, Tennant's Doctor seems as surprised as anyone by this development. There's even a callback to when Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor first regenerated into the Tenth 17 years ago, with Tennant's Doctor first realizing what had happened thanks to his familiar set of teeth.
Back in May, the BBC announced that Gatwa, of Sex Education fame, would be the new Doctor, implying that he would take over the role in the wake of Whittaker's regeneration. Shortly thereafter, the network also announced that Tennant would be returning to the role of the Doctor for Doctor Who's trilogy of 60th anniversary specials, the first of which is slated to air in November 2023. Tennant's former co-star Catherine Tate was announced to be reprising her role as Donna Noble as well.
At the time, however, few could have predicted that when Tennant returned, it would not be as the Tenth Doctor, but as the Fourteenth. After all, it wouldn't have been the first time timey-wimey shenanigans allowed the actor to reprise his role as the Tenth Doctor for a Doctor Who anniversary special. Tennant previously portrayed the Tenth Doctor in Doctor Who's 50th anniversary special, "The Day of the Doctor," in which he joined forces with his successor, Matt Smith. By the time the special aired in late 2013, Smith was over three years into his run as the Eleventh Doctor, with Tennant having passed the mantle in early 2010.
Doctor Who's first 60th anniversary special airs in November 2023.
Source: Twitter