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Doctor Who season 13 trailer: What we know

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Doctor Who series 13 trailer

The Tardis is about to travel through time and space for a 13th season with the 13th Doctor, but will this journey be her last and what can we expect from the latest series?

This season, the show is going back-in-time, literally - and will use episodes in a similar way to the old classic series, which was shown on TV between 1963 and 1989.

'New Who', the term for the modern era of Doctor Who which started in 2005, has generally had different stories for each episode. The new series will have one continuing story.

"The big thing that we're going to be doing this year is it's all one story, so every episode is one chapter in a bigger story," said showrunner Chris Chibnall. He was speaking at a Doctor Who panel at the virtual San Diego Comic-Con.

We're going to do the biggest story we've ever done.

Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who showrunner
Image source, 鶹Լ/Getty

The new season is just eight episodes long due to the difficulties in filming during the coronavirus pandemic.

"There were two ways you could go: we're just going to do lots of tiny episodes in one room with no monsters, or we could throw down the gauntlet and go 'we're going to do the biggest story we've ever done, we're going to go all kinds of different places, we're going to have all kinds of characters and monsters, and it's all going to be part of a bigger whole.'"

"I think it's definitely the most ambitious thing we've done since we've been on the series," said Chinball.

New Characters

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Comedian, John Bishop is playing Dan Lewis and will join Jodie Whittaker (The Doctor) and Mandip Gill (Yas) in the Tardis

The panel included Jodie Whittaker (The Doctor), Mandip Gill (Yas), and new cast members John Bishop and Jacob Anderson.

Comedian, John Bishop is playing Dan Lewis who appeared as an upcoming character at the end of the New Years Day special.

"We pick it up with the Doctor and Yas who've been travelling together for some time, we come and meet them mid-adventure, and they stumble across some man named Dan Lewis, that's all I'm going to tell you," says Chibnall.

Image source, 鶹Լ / Comic-con
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Jacob Anderson joins the Doctor Who cast as Vinder, a fun, adventurous action hero with his own spaceship

Meanwhile, Jacob Anderson will play a new character called Vinder in series 13. He will pop up in lots of episodes and is described as a fun, adventurous action hero who'll have his own spaceship.

"Not only did I get to go on the Tardis and press all the buttons and flip all the levers and the switches but I got my own ship, and my own ship had its own world of buttons and levers and switches that you could actually press and you could actually play with. I was like, 'I'm home, this is where I always wanted to be'. I had lots of very amazing days working on this," said Anderson.

Is Jodie Whittaker leaving?

Jodie Whittaker says she's most looking forward to "some incredible interactions with old monsters," but didn't confirm the rumours about whether this series will be her last as the famous Time Lord.

However in one scene from a teaser trailer shown at the event, Yas realises the Doctor is hiding something and there is speculation among some fans that her hidden secret could be that she's about to regenerate...

Season 13 of Doctor Who will be shown on the 鶹Լ later in 2021.