Popverse's top stories

• Knives Out creator Rian Johnson fesses up that his Star Wars trilogy never made it beyond the idea of wanting to make a Star Wars trilogy
• The success of GTA 6 rides entirely on how much fun it is to drive around the city [Gamify My Life]
• For Tillie Walden, the future of The Walking Dead is looking beyond America and "southern white male" perspectives

After two seasons as the iconic Time Lord from Gallifrey, Ncuti Gatwa called it quits for Doctor Who. The actor boarded the fourteenth season of the show with longtime Doctor Who writer, Russell T Davies, acting as showrunner during Gatwa's tenure as The Doctor. Since the events of the fifteenth season's finale unexpectedly saw Gatwa leave the role after just two seasons - the shortest tenure of any Doctor since 2005 - the actor has opened up about his decision to move on. 

In an interview on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Gatwa was asked why he walked away from the show earlier than anyone expected. In response, Gatwa said, "Because I’m getting old and my body was tired. I’ve now just started doing some ballet, so I’m making some good decisions here. It’s the most amazing job in the world. It’s a job that any actor would dream of. And because it’s so good, it’s strenuous, it takes a lot out of you physically, emotionally, mentally. It was time."

For those wondering about his "I'm getting old" comment, Gatwa is 32 years old.  

It should also be noted that Gatwa has plenty of other notable work outside of Doctor Who. He was one of the Kens in Greta Gerwig's Barbie, voiced David Copperfield in Audible's audio adaptation of the classic Charles Dickens novel, and played Algernon in the National Theatre's production of Oscar Wilde's comedy, The Importance of Being Earnest. He also has a role in 20th Century Studios's comedy, The Roses, which will be out later this year. 

In the wake of his departure from Doctor Who, it looks like Gatwa's schedule has been freed up considerably. That said, given the above resume, we can't imagine that we'll go without seeing Gatwa on both the small and silver screens for very long. 

If you want to start watching Doctor Who and don't know where to start, check out our handy Doctor Who watch guide. Or maybe you're already finished with the show - We've got the perfect Ten shows to watch when you're done watching Doctor Who guide for you too. If you're already heads over heels for the Fifteenth Doctor and want to learn more about the actor playing him, check out what he's been in before here. Or maybe you just need to figure out how the new series numbering is going to work (Are there really gonna be two series 1s? Yes.) - if so, this is the explainer you want.