Today on their Comic-Con@Home panel, the BBC released a little teaser trailer for Season 13 of ‘Doctor Who‘, which is set to return later in 2021, and also announce’s ‘Game Of Thrones’ star Jacob Anderson will join the cast in a recurring role.
There are a number of changes coming up in Season 13 as The Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) heads off on her “biggest adventure yet“. At the end of the Christmas special Graham and Ryan left the TARDIS to resume their old lives in Sheffield, leaving only Yaz (Mandip Gill) as her travelling companion… but not for long! As you probably already know, actor/comedian John Bishop is joining the show as Dan Lewis. According to showrunner Chris Chibnall, the series kicks off with the duo “mid-adventure” when they stumble across Dan.
One new character announced today is Vinder, played by Jacob Anderson, probably best known as playing Grey Worm on HBO’s epic ‘Game Of Thrones’. He will be a recurring character throughout the series, joining forces with the Doctor, Yaz and Dan battling evil across time and space.
“The Doctor has been a part of my life forever, from watching and rewatching the serials on VHS as a kid and being terrified, to unexpectedly finding my eyes watering when the Tenth Doctor said ‘I don’t want to go’, I always wanted to live in the Whoniverse,” commented Anderson. “Not only has a lifelong dream of mine now been fulfilled, but to be playing a character as fun, adventurous and dynamic as Vinder is the cherry on top. This is very cool.”
Along with appearing in ‘Game Of Thrones’, Anderson has popped up in shows such as ‘Episodes’, ‘Broadchurch’ and ‘Skins’. He’s also a successful music artist under the name Raleigh Ritchie.
Jacob Anderson as Vinder
Another change coming to the show is the format. Rather than stand-alone stories, the entire season will be one story with each episode serving as a chapter. It will also be 8-episodes, due to the pandemic.
“It’s, very much, not a ‘business as usual’ time, and the challenges of getting the show up and running, because there were times before we started making it, that we didn’t know whether we’d be able to make the show under COVID conditions this year, so everybody has pulled together to make that possible,” commented Chibnall. “There were two ways you could go… You could do lots of tiny episodes, in one room, with no monsters… Or, we can throw down the gauntlet, and say we’re going to do the biggest story we’ve ever done. We going to go to all kinds of different places, have all kinds of characters and monsters, and it’s all going to be part of a bigger whole.”
‘Doctor Who‘ Season 13 is currently filming and will be released “later in 2021” on BBC One. BBC America air the show in the USA.
Watch the full Comic-Con@Home panel below:
