Ncuti Gatwa, the actor who has recently been cast and chosen as the next incarnation of The Doctor on Doctor Who, has shared his emotional reaction to Sylvester McCoy's touching welcome message. It has been confirmed that Gatwa will be taking over the Doctor Who role from Jodie Whittaker shortly after her tenure ends later in the year.
Gatwa is most known for his role as Eric in Netflix's hit teen dramedy series, Sex Education. The announcement of who will play the next version of the iconic Doctor Who finally arrives after months of fans left speculating and guessing as to who the most likely next contender would be. Most notably, Hugh Grant, Olly Alexander, Lydia West, and even former star David Tennant were all name-dropped when it came to rumors surrounding who would allegedly be first in line to be the next Doctor Who. Although quite literally no fans could have foreseen Gatwa landing the role and his name was largely missing from most conversations, he has been accepted and celebrated with an outpour of love. The actor is expected to bring in a younger audience due to his steady fan base from his time spent on Sex Education. Although the Netflix series did receive lots of enthusiasm and passion from audiences at the beginning, ratings have been in decline over the past few years.
Hopefully, with Gatwa taking on the legendary Doctor Who, he will simultaneously be able to draw more fans back to Sex Education for future seasons to come. The beginning of Gatwa starring in the acclaimed sci-fi series also coincides with the epic return of former Doctor Who showrunner Russel T. Davies - back in the director's chair. Davies actually was the one responsible for the revival of the series back in 2005. He helmed the show until Tennant's Tenth Doctor was replaced with Matt Smith - in charge of what many fans consider to be the show’s ‘Golden Era.’ Now, in a video that was originally shared on Instagram, Gatwa has taken a moment to respond to the overwhelming support that was given to him by Doctor Who's Seventh Doctor, Sylvester McCoy
McCoy had recorded a video wishing Gatwa congratulations, in which he also let Gatwa know that he is officially a part of the group of actors who have also previously played the Time Lord. In response, Gatwa stated that the support of McCoy, as well as the encouragement from the previous Doctor Who cast members, has “filled him with the strength that I will be able to take on the role.” He went on to add, “Thank you for welcoming me into the family, it means the world. Sylvester, you’re a gentleman. All my best.”
As he says that, Gatwa motions to and puts his hand over his heart as if to almost salute the great legend. Receiving such a warm embrace from the likes of Sylvester is quite the high honor, and Gatwa seems to feel and know this deeply. In due time, fans will see just how Gatwa ends up putting his own spin on Doctor Who.
Doctor Who airs on BBC.
Source: Sylvester McCoy/Twitter