Jodie Whittaker and the New Who Team Conquer San Diego Comic Con

On July 19^th, Whovians packed Hall H at San Diego Comic Con for an experience of a lifetime, the Doctor Who panel with the Doctor herself, Jodie Whittaker, two of her new companions Ryan (played by Tosin Cole) and Yasmin (played by Mandip Gill), new show runner Chris Chibnall, and new Executive Producer Matt Strevens. For those of us who were not fortunate enough to make it to Comic Con this year, the BBC graciously uploaded the entire panel onto their YouTube channel two days later.

The panel opened with a very cute video clip of Jodie making her way from Cardiff to San Diego. She is an absolute delight. If half of her energy and personality show up in her Doctor, fans will not be disappointed in this regeneration. She couldn’t reveal much about the upcoming series (Spoilers, sweetie), but the little she did say makes the wait until the show starts back up seem that much longer. Tosin is a bit of a goof who deferred to Jodie quite a bit and Mandip is a wonderfully strong woman in her own right. We did not get to see the dynamic between them and the last companion, Graham (played by Bradley Walsh). He did send in a very funny video, which is not surprising given what we know about Bradley’s personality.

There were a number of good questions asked by members of the audience. One question that stuck out was a question asked by a young girl who wanted to know if Jodie’s Doctor would bring “girl things” to the character. Jodie’s response was very interesting. It’s almost spoiler-y and yet we shouldn’t be surprised by it. She vaguely mentioned, after a quick sidebar with the production team, that the people the Doctor interacts with will sometimes treat the Doctor differently from the way the Doctor has been treated in the past since the Doctor is now female. Another thing Jodie mentioned was that she wanted anyone, no matter what their age or gender, to be able to dress like the Doctor.

In the middle of the panel, they played the trailer, to the delight of the audience. What a ride we are in for! The little speech the Doctor gives is engaging. The clips from the episodes looked great, with the new places and people the Doctor will be encountering. There was one scene where they appear to be riding horses. Hopefully, Jodie’s horsemanship skills are a step above Matt Smith’s!