Doctor Who: Series 12 will be “delving deeper” into the Thirteenth Doctor (and why that’s important)

The Thirteenth Doctor could be explored much more deeply in Doctor Who next year. And we couldn’t be happier about that.

Along with finding out that the opening episode will possibly be one of the biggest episodes ever, as well as the news that Stephen Fry and Lenny Henry will be featuring in that same episode, there are a few other things that we’ve learned about Series 12 of Doctor Who. One such detail concerns the Thirteenth Doctor.

Jodie Whittaker has revealed that, after establishing her character in Series 11, we might be finding out a little more about her next series.

"Having had an entire season to discover all these different avenues you can go down, and knowing that playing someone like the Doctor means you’re not restricted in any way, some of these episodes I’d say go in a direction that is different for the Doctor from the previous season. So that in itself shows a level or a side to her that we haven’t seen yet."

Now that sounds intriguing. But when Chris Chibnall is pressed on it, his only response is:

"We’re delving deeper into the Thirteeenth Doctor this year. That’s all I’m saying. You’ll see things you didn’t see last year within facets of the Doctor."

Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor worked well in Series 11. But a deeper exploration of her character could make her even better.

(Image credit: Doctor Who/BBC. Image obtained from: BBC Press.)

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Potential for greatness

This news has, quite honestly, made me very happy. So far, the Thirteenth Doctor hasn’t entirely won me over. I’m not saying Jodie Whittaker’s bad, far from it. And there are interesting aspects of her Doctor that I’ve enjoyed, particularly hints of her fierce sense of morality. We got an extremely clear glimpse of that in Series 11 finale The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos, when she made it clear that she was against Graham killing Tzim-Sha.

Still, I can’t help but think that, overall, the depiction of the Doctor that we got in Series 11 was a little shallow. A little reminiscent of Tennant’s Doctor, but without the depth. We never truly got that sense of rage or hints of darkness or ancientness with Whittaker’s Doctor that we got with Tennant’s, or even Smith’s and Capaldi’s, really.

So the fact that we will be exploring this incarnation in a deeper way is very exciting. Whittaker’s good, but I think she could be truly amazing if her Doctor was handled in just the right way. Here’s hoping that she gets some much needed depth to her character next year.

What do you think? Do you think Whittaker’s Doctor could be improved with further exploration of her character? Or do you think that the Thirteenth Doctor is perfect enough already? Let us know in the comments below.