Doctor Who's Ncuti Gatwa Has Many 'Easter Eggs' for Longtime 'Who' Fans

"I just feel very honored to be a part of the Who-niverse, because it made me feel very included."

No matter how long Ncuti Gatwa plays The Doctor in the legendary sci-fi series Doctor Who, he still can't quite believe he gets to play the part. "I just feel very honored to be a part of the Who-niverse, because it made me feel very included." Going into his second season as The Doctor, "It always blows my mind whenever I speak to someone from over the pond that knows about Doctor Who, because [it] just feels like our tiny, little British TV show." Thanks to the international reach of Disney+, "the show is getting bigger, and more people have access to this wonderful little secret that us nerds had for a little while just all to ourselves." Gatwa acknowledges he "had great teachers" in past Doctors. "They each had something really different." And this season will bring even more nostalgia. "Classic Who fans will be happy about this season, there's lots of Easter eggs in it for them." But Gatwa, as the first Black Doctor, is especially proud that "little Black kids are gonna be looking at me like, 'I might be the Doctor,' or they might feel a little more relatability to the show."

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Editor's Note: This conversation has been edited and condensed for publication.

Having now done the first season, and you've experienced the whirlwind that is the introduction of being the next Doctor, how does it feel to be a part of this iconic franchise?

It feels like an honor, truly, which is a very cliché thing to say. I've said it a lot before in the past, but you're joining a legacy that's been going for 60 years, and has had so many iterations, and there's been so many incredible actors that have performed in this role, and the reach of the show is so wide. It always blows my mind whenever I speak to someone from over the pond that knows about Doctor Who because [it] just feels like our tiny, little British TV show. So quintessentially British and so loved for all the right reasons. And so then I was given the opportunity to join that canon, and that felt really incredible and I felt very honored by it. It can feel like a huge responsibility, because it's such a monumental role that you want to keep going for the next person, and you pass the baton, and it's a great show that we've loved for so many years. But it also feels nice that I'm joining a lineup of all the Doctors that have played it. Also, the past couple of years, I'm joining a lineup––John Martin, Jodie Whittaker––people who have cracked open the notion of who can play the Doctor and the inclusivity that the show can portray. I feel really, really proud of that, and really proud that little Black kids are gonna be looking at me like I might be the Doctor, or they might feel a little more relatability to the show. It's just an honor.

With it now being on Disney+, how does it feel to have these American fans suddenly become these massive Doctor Who fans?

Surreal. So surreal. I can't quite wrap my head around it. Thank you to Disney. And also, Disney has really helped with the creativity of the show. I mean, Russell's scripts [Russell T Davies, showrunner] are incredible and huge and ambitious and Disney has really been able to amplify them and bring out all the creativity that exists in that man's brain. Peter Capaldi [the twelfth Doctor] tells a story about him being somewhere abroad where he thought nobody would know it [Doctor Who]. And it was a little boy that came up to him. He's like, "You're going to be the Doctor." He was a huge Doctor Who fan and Peter was just about to become the Doctor, and it was very surprising to him. I'm always astounded. But my mom's friends, like my aunties were coming up to me, and they were just so proud of the fact that I was going to play this role in particular. It's a show that everyone knows. But yes, it has grown in the past couple of years, and it was incredible. Really, really incredible. And also, a show like Doctor Who that's so big on compassion, and he's like a very different hero. He's one that leads with his heart. I think that's a really nice global message to have in these times that we're in. So yeah, it feels very surreal. An honor. And I love the fact that the show is getting bigger and more people have access to this wonderful little secret that us nerds had for a little while just all to ourselves. We've got to share it now, but fine.

Did you take any influences from past people who have portrayed the Doctor and how have you incorporated that into your version of the Doctor?

Yeah, I don't think you can't. When I was preparing for the role, it's like each actor that comes in is so different, and so unmistakably the Doctor. It's kind of magical how that happened. But I certainly tried to take a little bit of everyone and then add my own spin onto it. I love Jon Pertwee. I love just how fabulous Jon Pertwee's costumes were, and he was a real action man, I think, which was very interesting. And then they've just each had different––like David [Tennant]'s charisma and joy of life. I love Peter [Capaldi]'s gravitas and his grit and gravel and anger, because the Doctor is so joyful and as hopeful as they are, they also have been through a lot and have seen a lot, and see the complexities of life and of the universe and the dark and light and the shades of it all. And so there's an anger in them as well. There is a darkness that exists in the Doctor, which I loved about Peter's iteration. They each had something really different. And I guess I tried to take something from them all. And eventually you just do it and let the writing guide you. But I had great teachers.

What can we expect from the new season?

I think classic Who fans will be happy about this season––there's lots of Easter eggs in it for them. This season, I think it's really interesting seeing the relationship between the Doctor and Belinda, because the goal isn't to travel the universe and explore the universe and go on loads of adventures. The goal is to get Belinda home. Belinda is so headstrong and independent and intelligent and has had a tough life here on Earth, and very much understands the heaviness of life and also has her own life that she's committed to and dedicated to and wants to get back there. She sees the Doctor for what he is, an incredible time-traveling alien, but also dangerous. You put people in dangerous situations, and you don't always have the answers. And throughout the season, he doesn't have the answers in terms of how to get back home. And so, they're on a real equal footing and it's a really beautiful partnership. It's like a slow burn to connect, but it goes very deep, and they really respect each other and really love each other and see each other as equals. And so them in a partnership, trying to figure out what the hell is going on and why can't they get back to Earth. They've got to figure that out together, and they've got to lean on each other. And I think that's a new side of the Doctor and a really beautiful relationship that they have.

This season the Doctor goes everywhere, in the future, in the past, animated, so many places. Is there a period or a place that spoke to you most?

Yeah, as soon as I got cast in the role, that was a question that Russell asked me when he handed me the first set of scripts in season one. And I was like, "I've got to take the Doctor to Africa. I just have to." A continent full and rich of stories and lore and mysticism. And that I know was an element, the fantastical element, is something that Russell wanted to explore more this time. It's interesting, he's an alien. The majority of the time he's been in the body of a white man. It's only been a couple of times he's not been in that in that body, and now he's in the body of a Black man, human being on Earth. And it's funny because he's getting treated––he now has the experience of being treated different, more differently. And so to go to Africa, a place where he will feel more at home, I just found that to be a really interesting narrative, and that was just such a fun episode to work on.

And the weight that going to Africa has, because I'm sure that speaks to so many fans of the franchise who sometimes don't always feel represented.

Yeah, hopefully. I think diversity, or diversity of stories, is very enriching. Also, I think it's just really cool to have Africa and sci fi in the same sentence.

Also, just you as a person, out promoting Doctor Who, you're just cool. Your fashion, your appearances, you exude cool, and you bring a coolness factor to the Doctor. So how does it feel for fans like me to think you're so cool?

I think you're so cool! I think the show, Doctor Who, is cool. Doctor Who is a cool show. I fell in love with it as soon as I started watching it to prepare for the show. I'd obviously always grown up with it, and then to get to really delve into it, preparing to take on the role. I was like, this is, "Do you know what? Nerds are the really cool people in this world." I think I don't know how to answer that question, other than I just feel very honored to be a part of the Who-niverse, because it made me feel very included. It was something that I really––not to get too emotional, we know what I'm like––but like, when I was watching it, I think we were in the remnants of our last––here in the U.K.––of our last lockdown during COVID time. It was a very strange time. I just had a lot of social anxiety at that time, and wasn't really going outside. And so it was just so great to just sit in a house and watch Doctor Who all day long and just escape to somewhere else, because everything outside was so crazy and unknown, and so every day popping off of David Tennant or Matt Smith or Peter to somewhere else just really made me feel like I'd made these new friends, chums that I could travel around with. And I instantly saw why it's got such a big following amongst different minority groups, certainly the LGBTQ community. And so, in that week, I was like, "I have to get this job. This is so cool and so great." And so I think I look at you like, you're the cool guy, actually, to be fair.