Spoilers ahead for the Doctor Who episode "The Power of the Doctor."

While Doctor Who's transitional episode, "The Power of the Doctor," brought a TARDIS-full of surprises, it also managed to turn the tables on an accepted idea about where Ncuti Gatwa's incoming iteration of the Time Lord fits numerically.

The onscreen swan song of Jodie Whittaker's Thirteenth Doctor was, as expected, an emotional moment, capping off a five-year run starring on the sci-fi institution. However, the show's traditional regeneration scene, in which the outgoing Doctor changes into their successor, was dealt a curveball this time around. The ostentatious energy-emanating display of Whittaker's metamorphosis was not followed by the onscreen debut of her confirmed successor, Ncuti Gatwa. Rather, the Thirteenth Doctor surprisingly turned into none other than David Tennant's Tenth Doctor (now the Fourteenth Doctor), making an unprecedented backward regeneration. With that set, incoming showrunner Russell T. Davies officially confirms that Ncuti Gatwa will (eventually) arrive as the Fifteenth Doctor.

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As Davies teases of "The Power of the Doctor's" Time Lord twist, “If you thought the appearance of David Tennant was a shock, we’ve got plenty more surprises on the way! The path to Ncuti’s Fifteenth Doctor is laden with mystery, horror, robots, puppets, danger and fun! And how is it connected to the return of the wonderful Donna Noble? How, what, why? We’re giving you a year to speculate, and then all hell lets loose!" Despite the mystery, the teaser trailer previewing what lies ahead for the Doctor Who franchise provided the first glimpse of Gatwa's Fifteenth Doctor, who is shouting a request that is likely echoed by the show's fandom: "Someone tell me what the hell is going on here!"

Doctor Who's Backward Regeneration

Indeed, fans might be left wondering where the twist leaves the series. Well, it turns out it leaves things exactly where a recent issue of Doctor Who Magazine confirmed since it has already been revealed that Tennant will return as the Tenth/Fourteenth Doctor for a three-part run of "special episodes" that are scheduled to air in November 2023, celebrating the franchise's 60th birthday. Of course, few could have imagined the context of said return. It would have been easy to assume that Tennant's Doctor would somehow share the screen with Gatwa's newly-minted version by way of a timey-wimey plot device for a meeting of Doctors akin to the crossovers that have taken place over the years. Instead, it will presumably culminate with another regeneration sequence, with this one introducing the Fifteenth.

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Gatwa comes into the series off momentum from his scene-stealing role on Netflix's Sex Education as the boisterous Eric Effiong. However, based on the few seconds of footage provided in the preview, this wasn't a typecasting situation, and the Fifteenth Doctor will seemingly manifest with a unique level of intensity mixed with Gatwa's comic swagger. While the 30-year-old Rwandan-born Scottish actor has an intimidating legacy to fulfill, his predecessor Whittaker thinks he's perfectly capable of leaving a powerful imprint in this proverbial cement. "I'm certainly not giving that phenomenal actor any advice," she recently said. "He doesn't need it from me [and my only advice is]: It's yours to own and you've earned it."

Unfortunately for fans, the wait for the eventual debut of Gatwa's Fifteenth Doctor will last for over a year. Thus, we can expect a long period of speculation from rabid Whovians until then.

Doctor Who will return for a new three-episode arc with David Tennant in November 2023 on BBC and BBC America.

Source: Doctor Who