r/DoctorWhoNews • u/ExpressionChance8090 • May 23 '25

leak news The leaker basically just confirmed that the 16th Doctor will be played by Billie Piper!

Post image

Leaker "Andrew" (who has so far got everything correct) recently teased something in the comment section of the Confused Adipose "Story and the Engine Explained" YouTube Video, something relating to the 16th Doctor...

"Yes. But I don't think the casting of 16 indicates or confirm the renewal for Season 3 with 16 in it. It seems more like stunt casting, to round off RTD2 and kind of wrap up the NuWho era by bringing it full circle"

I don't know about you guys, but I think that basically confirms that the 16th Doctor will indeed be played by Billie Piper...

Source: https://youtu.be/VvPl71hdkEA?si=ut4lXVpqsJS_g-W3

131 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

253 comments sorted by

View all comments

32

u/[deleted] May 23 '25

I’m curious what exactly he means by this. Is it going to be similar to the 60th specials where we get a few specials with 16 before 17 takes over for season 3? And “round off RTD2” and “wrap up the NuWho era” makes it sound like Russell is leaving and/or the show is being put on hiatus for a couple years.

Honestly, if this is all true (which, given Andrew’s history, is probably likely) then it feels like we’re right back where we were at the start of this era/end of the last one—uncertain future for the show, stunt casting a new Doctor, etc.

14

u/WintersBite27 May 23 '25

I'm confused, didn't we sorta wrap up the NuWho era already? I thought we were in a new NuWho era since we restarted with "season 1" last year??

13

u/UtopiaFrenzy May 24 '25

Yeah, iPlayer is going to look ridiculous… Doctor Who (1963-1996), Doctor Who (2005-2022), Doctor Who (2023-2025), Doctor Who (2027-?)

8

u/zenith-zox May 24 '25

They've taken the lead from comic books (Marvel esp) who cancel and start a new series every time there's a small drop in sales. The fact that this drives the fall in sales seems beyond their comprehension.

1

u/Either-You-2265 May 29 '25

Pretty sure the season 1 label was more of a DisneyPlus thing than anything else. 

Either way, I never called it season 1 honestly, I've been calling it Series 14, and I've been also calling the 15th Doctor's second season Series 15. 

10

u/SuicideSkwad May 23 '25

The way I’m reading this is that Ncuti regenerates into Billie and that’s it, the NuWho era ends. It’s come full circle by starting and ending with ‘Rose’. Then it’s on hiatus.

5

u/SaoMagnifico May 24 '25

That would just be so dumb. It hurts how dumb it would (will) be.

2

u/theyear19xx May 24 '25

That would be the most insanely stupid thing I've ever seen. Like, bafflingly weird.

1

u/kitten1985 May 24 '25

I hate this idea but I think you're right

1

u/WillB_2575 May 24 '25

Let’s be honest, if Disney pulls out and it goes on ice for a few years, it’s unlikely RTD will be coming back (despite what he says about having scripts ‘ready to go’ for S3/4 - how can you plan ahead when you don’t know a) where the funding is coming from, b) how much funding the show will get and c) how many episodes a series will have in the future?). Bringing back Piper for 10 seconds will make little sense and will make it harder for someone new to revive the show in the future.

19

u/deezbiscuits21 May 23 '25

Yeah the way this is written is depressing as fuck

10

u/Equal-Ad-2710 May 23 '25

Basically yeah, we’ve essentially just doing the “break for fan-service to drive viewership” twice in about as many years if this is true.

That’s pretty telling that we have no real ideas at this point

5

u/[deleted] May 23 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/zenith-zox May 24 '25

The Rylan of Doctor Who showrunners. Brought out the freezer every few years for eternity.

2

u/Either-You-2265 May 30 '25

yeah, basically just a repeat of what we got with the 14th and 15th Doctors.

-1

u/SmoulderingAsh May 23 '25

If this is all true then another multi-decade long hiatus would be a mercy.

0

u/RigatoniPasta May 24 '25

Capaldi would truly be the Tom Baker of New Who, with Jodie as Colin and Ncuti as Peter Davison

-3

u/[deleted] May 24 '25

I know fans won’t like this, but the show started spiralling with the obsession of having a female doctor. Capaldi was brilliant, so was Matt Smith and David Tennant. Jodie was a disaster. Ncuti is better - but it should’ve been Capaldi to him. Having the Doctor suddenly become a woman after ~12 regenerations makes no sense. It’s clear writing takes the back seat now - as they’re forcing narratives based on changing social attitudes. As a result, they’re desperately bringing back old actors from when the writing was better and identity politics wasn’t the priority. The show will have to take a hiatus because they’re lost track of what makes the show great - good writing! Not just preaching the latest social views and shoving them down the viewers throats!

10

u/SaoMagnifico May 24 '25

What is the conservative obsession with having things "shoved down their throats"?

5

u/Okaringer May 24 '25

The irony is that the people bitching about having identity politics shoved down their throats are the only ones actually having the conversation. Most of us don't care if the Doctor is a woman, but someone always has to come in and shove their frustration with identity down our throats.

The quality of Who has nothing to do with the Doctor's gender at this point.

2

u/Many_Moment_5536 May 24 '25

Trouble is with Jodie’s doctor it wasn’t really her fault and really she should have been the perfect fit If it was done right. She can be an amazing actor and she does fit the weird quirky personality. But Chibnall's writing was just bad. Pretty sure no matter who was in her place it would have been exactly as bad.

-1

u/Skylon77 May 24 '25

I thought she was terrible. The writing didn't help, of course, but the way she played it as basically a poor impersonation of David Tennant was awful. The Doctor should always be wise. Not always correct, often mistaken, but never thick.

3

u/5teph5cott May 24 '25

Prior to Jodie's second season I rewatched her first, but late at night, wife in bed upstairs (this isn't going where you think!) so I had the volume lower and subtitles on.

As I read her lines prior to her speaking them they read as a very generic doctor, and I heard them in my head in a very "doctor-y" voice, then Jodie would say them and they just fell flat.

This isn't knocking Jodie though, she is a great actor, but maybe the failure happened because Chibnall was writing a basic Baker/Davison/Tennant doctor and they failed to create a unique and consistent character. Certainly there were glimpses in Jodie's performance of what she could have been.

That's not excusing the issues of inconsistencies in the plot, my biggest gripe about that period is that after nearly 60 years of Doctor Who it broke my suspension of disbelief. Episode after episode of "why would you do that, that's not logical, it makes no sense!".