The new cast and producers of Doctor Who held a short press conference Thursday morning at San Diego's Comic-Con International to discuss the upcoming season and the cultural significance of the first female Doctor. Incoming lead Jodie Whittaker, companions Tosin Cole and Mandip Gill, and executive producers Chris Chibnall and Matt Strevens spoke about the origins of the new costume, the likelihood of a Christmas episode, and how the Doctor’s gender may influence her adventures, as well as introducing the first character details of the Doctor’s "friends."

As one may expect, the first question tackled the significance of Whittaker being cast as the first female Doctor, an experience the actress described as "incredibly liberating." "With this role, and ask any of the previous Doctors anyway, the previous rules are out the window. Because the wonderful thing is, you regenerate. You can bring everything you, you can bring everything from previous."

The press conference returned to the issue of gender several times in its brief 25-minute duration. Asked why the time was right for a female Doctor, Chibnall said, "I think it was possibly overdue, to be honest." "I can only speak to since I’ve been the job and had to make a decision, but to me it felt really simple and obvious. The world was ready, the show was ready, the audience was ready. There were things in the show before that had mentioned it so in terms of canon, there were things you could point to."

"Also," he continued, "there was an amazing list of actresses who could do the part, and we were lucky enough to get the best from that list."

But how such a dramatic change affect how the Doctor is known and received throughout the universe? "The Doctor’s stil the Doctor," Chibnall said. "In some situations there may be gender issues, especially when you’re into history that might come up, but for alien worlds and stuff like that the Doctor’s still the Doctor and they are perfectly capable of walking into a room [and taking charge].

"I’m not sure that’s a gender related issue. Certainly not for the way we’re writing it, certainly not for the way it’s being performed. The Doctor is that character who can walk into a room and, through force of personality, force of charm, force of being amazing, totally bend everybody to their will, solve the problem, make everybody happy, get out alive."

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A young female reporter asked about what sort of "woman’s touch" Whittaker’s Doctor might bring to the TARDIS, which introduced another theme of the day – that the creators wanted to keep quiet about as much as possible. "I’m not allowed to talk about the TARDIS," Whittaker said, with Chibnall noting that it had exploded anyway. But Whittaker addressed the underlying question, as well. "It’s interesting because I’ve never approached a role thinking ‘how would a woman play this role,’ because I am just am one. I don’t think a man would say, ‘how would a man play this role,’ because you just are, it’s your POV," she said. "Essentially, I suppose my energy, my approach to this is coming from a very instinctive place, which feels genderless to me because it’s never been ingrained in me that that’s the specific way a woman behaves, that’s the way a man behaves. But the great thing about the Doctor is I’m not playing either, I’m an alien. So there’s really no rules. I have two hearts so I can do whatever I want."

Chibnall and Strevens also spoke about diversity behind the camera. "We have one of the first writers of color on a Doctor Who series, and two female writers and three male writers in the guest writer slot. And we two female directors and two male directors across the series," Chibnall said, with Strevens adding that most of the show’s editors are female, as well.

Strevens mentioned the BBC’s training program in Cardiff aimed at bringing more diverse voices into the industry. "People need to feel that the business is for them, as well. It creates new opportunities across the board," he said.

Doctor Who, Chibnall said, "should be the most inclusive show on television." "The whole point of Doctor Who is that anybody can go anywhere. We want to reflect that on screen and off."

With the discussion around what Whittaker’s casting may mean for young girls looking for a compelling hero, the actress was asked about what she might say to young boys. "That it’s ok to look up to women. And that it’s exciting and not to be feared," Whittaker said. "Us three sitting here didn’t always have, growing up, people on television looking like us. Or in the case of me and Mandip, sounding like us, having our accents. Your heroes don’t have to tick the same box."

Some have noted that the Doctor’s companions are now referred to as "friends," another shift for the long-running series. "It’s not an edict or rule, it just feels a bit more natural to us," Chibnall said. "I’m sure you walk into a room and go, ‘Hello, I’m so and so, and these are my companions.’ And it probably speaks a little bit to the Thirteenth Doctor’s egalitarian [sensibility] – she’s got a gang of mates with her – but it just feels more emotionally connected. But it’s in no way a rule for Whovians from now on."

"It’s an evolution," Strevens added. "It started with ‘assistants,’ moved on to ‘companions,’ and then it was a natural thing to start stalking about them as the Doctor’s mates."

The team’s first series will not feature the return of old allies or enemies, the producers said. "It’s pretty much all new. All new stories, all new monsters, all new villains," Chibnall said. "We’re I think two weeks from the end of filming and we haven’t come across any old villains yet."

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"You don’t need an encyclopedic knowledge of the history of Doctor Who to be included in this journey," Whittaker added. "We’ve got ten standalone episodes that have huge character arcs, but if you come in on episode four, there’s an adventure in episode four and you don’t need the fifty-odd year history to go with it."

Chibnall noted that a new Doctor always represents a chance for a fresh start. "It’s a great place to start with a new Doctor. For Doctor Who fans who love the show, I would encourage you to come find that friend of yours who’s never seen Doctor Who, that crazy friend, and get them into your front room for Jodie’s first episode and tell them ‘this is why you should love this show."

Asked when she felt her version of the Doctor taking shape, Whittaker said "it was very early on." "I was thrown into the deep end in the very first week of filming, which I’m not allowed to tell you anything about. But I had a very important speech," she said. "So the first shot, the first take … when we moved on, I thought, ok, this is tattooed on film forever, and so I must be the Doctor. It was an amazing moment and not one I thought would happen as a girl born in the ‘80s. The Doctor did not look like. I’ve spent a lot of time crying about this, it’s been great."

Whittaker joked that the show’s premiere would be the first time some of the actors saw the creatures or events they’d been reacting to on camera. "Lots of our reactions have been to a tennis ball," she said. "For us it’ll be a revelation.” Cole said that for one scene he’d asked excitedly, “What are we actually looking at?" "They showed us a picture of what we was looking at, and I was like, ‘Bro, I was looking at something completely different!’"

Whitakker said that when she was “stalking Chris Chibnall for him to give me the job,” she had sent him “literally hundreds of images” of costume concepts, as she had a sense that her wardrobe “had to feel like it could have come from anywhere.” “One of them, it was a woman walking with purpose, deep in thought, striding, and she had short trousers on, boots, bracers, and a t-shirt – the photo is black and white, so I don’t know what era that picture is from. The woman had hair like mine, which was already in kind of a bob. So it felt… it was a wonderful expression in one image of timelessness, purpose, and inclusiveness.

"And," she added, "then there’s so many little details that you’re never going to find."

Though most of the new series’ details are shrouded in secrecy, Cole and Gill were able to share a few details of their characters, Ryan and Yasmin. "He’s a chap, going about his daily life when he gets pulled into this crazy adventure," Cole said of Ryan, adding that he tends to "go with the flow." "He gets it right sometimes, wrong a lot of the times."

"Yasmin is a 19-year-old girl who went to work and thought she could do more, asked for more, got more – so be careful what you ask for – and went on this adventure and found a family away from home," Gill said. "She’s completely in awe of the Doctor. Initially, the Doctor says jump, she says ‘how high.’ But then there’s this huge shift towards the end and they’re getting to the same conclusion by the end of it. And she has a really nice relationship with Tosin’s character and [Bradley Walsh]’s character, who’s not here. There’s a great dynamic there between the three friends, and [another between] the friends with the Doctor."

Closing out the press conference, Chibnall all but confirmed that there will be a Christmas episode. "We seem to be filming eleven episodes, but it’s only a series of ten," he said. "I would definitely think there’s an extra episode after the end of the series."