Former Doctor Who showrunner, Steven Moffat, has shown that he knows the Doctor incredibly well by describing the character as “the most dangerous [person] in the universe.’

When asked about casting for the Doctor, seeing as no one quite knows if Billie Piper really is the Sixteenth Doctor, Moffat says the actor should be:

“Attractive, but odd. There’s something utterly odd, a sort of benevolent, kindly, slightly incompetent impersonation of a human being. The Doctor is never quite right.

“He’s really trying, or she’s really trying. [They’re] not quite there. ‘I’m really cool because I’ve got a bow tie’. ‘I’ve got a nice suit.’ ‘I put my trainers on.’ There’s just something off-kilter about them.

“Above all, it’s someone that little kids would want to run up and take that [person’s] hand and feel absolutely safe. That’s what the Doctor’s about. Somewhere between Indiana Jones and Willy Wonka. But also there’s got to be an edge, slightly dangerous – the most dangerous [person] in the universe. All of those things. It’s a tall order.”

And we couldn’t agree more. These ideas do shed a light on his casting Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi as the Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors respectively, as well as John Hurt as the War Doctor, as they are all those things.

He was also asked about if he thinks Piper really is the next Doctor, after Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor regenerated in the latest episode, The Reality War. Moffat replied:

“I genuinely don’t have any insider information, but they [i.e. Russell T Davies and the production team] have hedged their bets. They’ve not said [she’s the Doctor], so I don’t know. I don’t even know if they know!”

As is, we don’t know either. It seems no one knows what the future has in store for us.

That should be exciting. Right now, it feels a bit scary though…