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Doctor Who's 60th Anniversary Adds Neil Patrick Harris to Its Mysterious Cast

Get ready to have absolutely no idea what's going on with Doctor Who's next anniversary special for the next year and a bit.

Neil Patrick Harris as he'll appear in Doctor Who's 60th Anniversary special.
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Image: BBC

It feels like we’ve recently learned more about Doctor Who’s upcoming 60th anniversary celebrations next year than we have about the impending departure of Jodie Whittaker’s current Doctor a few months from now. And yet, the more we learn about the 60th, the stranger and stranger it gets.

The latest news out of the BBC is that Neil Patrick Harris has joined the upcoming special in a major, undisclosed role. An image of Harris’ character was released, but no further details were actually given about his role:

Image for article titled Doctor Who's 60th Anniversary Adds Neil Patrick Harris to Its Mysterious Cast
Image: BBC
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There’s definitely a kind of tinkerer/inventor sort of vibe going on here, but beyond that, who can say? Not incoming showrunner Russell T. Davies, that’s for sure. “But who, why, what is he playing,” Davies pondered theatrically in a new statement released by the BBC. “You’ll just have to wait. But I promise you, the stuff we’re shooting now is off the scale. Doctor beware!”

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Harris joins the returning David Tennant and Catherine Tate in the 60th anniversary special, reviving their roles as the 10th Doctor (or at least some version of the Doctor) and Donna Noble respectively. Harris joins fellow new-to-Who star, Heartstopper’s Yasmin Finney, confirmed to play a similarly mysterious character... named Rose. Maybe that Rose, maybe another Rose, maybe connected, but once again: who knows?

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The special is set to broadcast either on or around, presumably, Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary on November 23, 2023. Meanwhile, Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor will return for her swan-song in an as-yet-untitled showdown with Sacha Dhawan’s Master later this year.


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