Doctor Who: Jodie Whittaker Comments on Her Doctor's Controversial Ending
Jodie Whittaker and Mandip Gill discuss the Doctor and Yaz's non-romantic Doctor Who end.
Former Doctor Who star Jodie Whittaker is opening up about the controversial end to her time as the Thirteenth Doctor. No, this isn't about that Timeless Child business or the Flux. This is about the romance, or lack thereof, between the Doctor and her companion, Yaz, played by Mandip Gill. With Whittaker and Gill reprising their roles for Big Finish's upcoming Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures series, it's time to address the expectations of romance that fans carried with them into the stars' final Doctor Who episode, "The Power of the Doctor." That episode didn't go as those fans had hoped.
Even after Yaz confessed her feelings to the Doctor in the previous Doctor Who special, "Legend of the Sea Devils," the Doctor did not reciprocate in "The Power of the Doctor." While this irked some fans, Whittaker remains "protective" of those final moments for herself and Gill.
The Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) and Yaz (Mandip Gill) in "The Power of the Doctor" episode of Doctor Who.
- BBC)Jodie Whittaker "Protective" of Doctor Who Ending
"I'm quite protective over it," Whittaker told RadioTimes.com of the experience of shooting her final Doctor Who episode. "It was a really beautiful thing, particularly the scenes in the TARDIS – they were really wonderful to shoot, because that was our last day. And so we shot those and then went and sat on top of the TARDIS and then shot in isolation, straight after that, the moment of regeneration. And I think those beats, even though, story-wise, they don't run all together, for us, because that's how we shot it, it felt like a beautiful progression within the dynamic and the relationship that they had."
Whittaker concluded, jokingly, that there are more of the Doctor's adventures with Yaz to be told. "And I think also it's just, never say never! We've got adventures to do," she said. "We could be [kissing] in the background!"
Jodie Whittaker and Mandip Gill Return in Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures
Whittaker also touched on the nature of her return in the Big Finish's Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures. She says the audio stories are more focused on adventure than romance.
"It's kind of isolated stories – rather than it being about the Doctor and Yaz's relationship, it's the adventure of the episode," Whittaker explains. "It's these guys on their travels, what they come across, and their natural banter and rhythm between each other, but then also the protectiveness that they both have for each other. But we haven't seen anything beyond this. So it could be that there's an episode that…
"That gives us time to explore," Mandip chimed in. "But right now we've concentrated on the adventure in hand."
Whittaker and Gill's televised Doctor Who adventures are streaming now on Max in the United States. Big Finish Productions plans to release Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor Adventures in July 2025. The series is available to pre-order on the Big Finish website.
