Ncuti Gatwa is out of this world in EW's “Doctor Who ”cover shoot

Plus, get an exclusive look at the actor's first full season as the Fifteenth Doctor.

Meet your newest alien superstar.

Ncuti Gatwa already rocketed to fame for playing high schooler Eric Effiong in Sex Education and a plasticized Ken in last year's Barbie. Now, the 31-year-old actor is going intergalactic, joining the legendary sci-fi franchise Doctor Who as the Fifteenth Doctor. Ahead of the new season's premiere (May 10 on Disney+ and the BBC), Entertainment Weekly sat down with Gatwa to talk about tackling the iconic role — and what he hopes to bring to the TARDIS.

Here, see all of EW's exclusive photos from our Doctor Who cover shoot — as well as a few exclusive images from the upcoming season.

The Doctor is in

Doctor Who holds the Guinness World record as the longest-running sci-fi series on TV, and Gatwa is the 14th main actor to play the role.

“I was really cautious about getting it right throughout filming,” he says. “It’s 60 years’ worth of legacy and 60 years’ worth of a show that people have loved and watched with their families. It lives in people’s hearts, so I really wanted to protect that.”

Clocking in

Before he was cast, Gatwa texted his agent to say that he'd someday like to tackle a project like Doctor Who. One week later, he learned that the show was actually casting, and to prepare, he binged as much of the revival series as he could.

“I just fell in love with it,” Gatwa explains. “It was so easy to put my phone in airplane mode and just not reply to anyone because this show was taking all my attention.”

Sci-fi star

Gatwa learned that he landed the role of the Fifteenth Doctor just as he was about to walk into his barber shop. “I just put the phone down and didn’t think about it for about a week,” he says. “The concept that was proposed to me was so meta that I was like, 'What? There’s no way. I can’t even think about this. I need to do my laundry!'”

Timey-wimey shenanigans

Gatwa officially joined the show last year during the 60th anniversary special "The Giggle," appearing when David Tennant's Fourteenth Doctor regenerates — or technically bigenerates — into the Fifteenth.

“That’s an inferno to throw Ncuti into,” showrunner Russell T Davies says of his star. “Talk about being thrown into the deep end. But [I could] see him owning it and triumphing.”

Lights, camera, action

Since Gatwa's casting went public, he says he's received an outpouring of messages from previous Doctors — including Jodie Whittaker, Peter Capaldi, Matt Smith, David Tennant, and Sylvester McCoy, among others.

“They’ve all been absolute angels,” Gatwa says. “It’s a very small, very exclusive club, and it’s just nice to know that other people have gone through that experience as well. That solidarity from the other Doctors has been really nice.”

Clothes maketh the man

When he was cast as the Doctor, Gatwa assumed that he would wear one or two key costumes — only to learn that he would instead be getting a whole closet's worth. He worked closely with costume designer Pam Downe to help figure out the Doctor's many outfits, and EW can exclusively reveal two looks from his second season — this red jacket and kilt combo and an all-white outfit.

“The show is so quintessentially British, and it’s a show that has accumulated the power to reflect where Britain is societally,” Gatwa says. “I was like, ‘It would be really interesting to travel through all the subcultures of Britain that it’s had in the past up to now through his clothes.’ This character represents the U.K. in a weird way, almost like Captain Britain. So, how do we tell that story through fashion?”

Sonic youth

Like his predecessors, Gatwa's Doctor never travels without his TARDIS or his trusty sonic screwdriver (seen here).

“It wasn’t until I stepped on set and saw the TARDIS that I was like, ‘This is all real now,’” Gatwa says. “My heart started racing because I just thought, ‘That’s the blue box. And it’s mine now.’”

A new star rises

Gatwa remains tight-lipped about exactly which classic villains he might face during his run. But there's one iconic baddie that's at the top of his wishlist.

“I’ve heard chats about me not ever facing a Dalek,” he says. “I’d be so angry if that’s the case! By the time that I’m done with Doctor Who, I better have faced a Dalek.”

Dynamic duo

Gatwa's Fifteenth Doctor is joined by companion Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson), who made her debut in the 2023 Christmas special.

“If we were at school together, we would be such trouble,” Gatwa says of his bond with Gibson. “The teachers would never allow us to sit together. We’re curious, and we’d be looking for an adventure somewhere in the room. And I was like: That is the vibe I want for the Doctor.”

Welcome to Abbey Road

The season finds the Doctor and Ruby journeying through space and time — from distant alien planets to 1960s Abbey Road. (Yes, the Beatles will be making an appearance.)

“Every week, the TARDIS lands somewhere new — not just on a new planet, but in a new genre," Davies says. "I can step out into a comedy or a thriller or high-stakes action monster movie or a little chamber piece. It has so much scope, and that will never get old.”

Double trouble

“There’s never been a younger sort of relationship, where it’s more like two girls in school, giggling and gossiping,” Gibson says. “Me and Ncuti have a similar relationship to the Doctor and Ruby, which really helps. It’s just constant laughter and platonic best friends."

Into the TARDIS

“I had a lot of set expectations as to what the Doctor should be like,” Gatwa says. “I thought, There’s definitely a correct way of doing the Doctor, which is a very British mentality. I found it very confusing in season 1, the fact that they were just trusting me to do what I want with the role. I was like, ‘Surely there’s a right way and a wrong way, and you’ve got to tell me the right way.’ But they were like, ‘Well, it’s just whatever you’re doing.’ It took a long time for that to settle in: They just wanted me to be myself creatively.”

Read EW's full Doctor Who cover story here.

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Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.