Back in January, the BBC announced that Steven Moffat would be stepping down as showrunner of Doctor Who at the conclusion of its next season in 2017. Upon learning that, fans immediately began to speculate what that meant for lead actor Peter Capaldi. In an interview with the Radio Times, Capaldi says that the choice to stay on is his.

In an interview with the Radio Times, Capaldi said, “I’ve been asked to stay on but it’s such a long time before I have to make that decision.”

As for the timeline that Capaldi spoke of, the next season of Doctor Who begins filming in May for the 2016 Christmas Special and Season 10 that begins airing in Spring 2017. Presumably, the setup for regeneration or the actual regeneration would occur at the end of the 2017 season. As a result, Capaldi probably has anywhere between a few more months to a year to make his decision.

This development shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. As we noted back in January, David Tennant strongly implied that the decision to leave Doctor Who when Moffat took over the show from Russell T. Davies was his alone rather than that of the BBC or the showrunner. We expected the same to hold this time around as well.

Source: Radio Times

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