‘Doctor Who’ Just Keeps Getter Queerer As Trans Actor Pete MacHale Is Cast
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Doctor Who just can’t stop making queer history with its upcoming season. Trans actor Pete MacHale has recently been cast, marking the first time in the series' long history that a trans man has starred on the show.
MacHale is reportedly one of the five new cast members announced along with Bhav Joshi, Eilidh Loan, Pete MacHale, Miles Yekinni, and Hemi Yeroham, according to TVZone.
\u201cwait is Pete MacHale our first trans male that has joined the cast of Doctor Who? this is very exciting!! \u2764\ufe0f\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\u26a7\ufe0f first Yasmin and now Pete! \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\u26a7\ufe0f\ud83d\ude80 so glad we\u2019re getting more trans representation as it\u2019s NEEDED!! \u2764\ufe0f\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\u26a7\ufe0f\ud83d\udcab#DoctorWho\u201d
— Owen \ud83c\udf08 (@Owen \ud83c\udf08) 1680102507
“wait is Pete MacHale our first trans male that has joined the cast of Doctor Who? this is very exciting!! ❤️🏳️⚧️ first Yasmin and now Pete! 🏳️⚧️🚀 so glad we’re getting more trans representation as it’s NEEDED!! ❤️🏳️⚧️💫#DoctorWho”
MacHale is a British writer and director whose writing focuses on “bodily autonomy (The man who came back), gender identity and loss (Father’s last face), and evoking horror (Pike county disturbance),” according to his agent’s website.
MacHale’s joining the cast follows on the heels of the very mysterious news that Heartstopper’s Yasmin Finney would appear in the upcoming 60th-anniversary special airing this November. Finney is playing a character named Rose, who may or may not be the companion previously played by Billie Piper.
“You’ll find out in 2023, but it’s an absolute joy to welcome Yasmin to the Doctor Who set,” showrunner Russell T. Davies said in a statement back in May. “We all fell in love with her in Heartstopper, one of those shows which changes the world — and now Yasmin can change the Whoniverse!”
A new trilogy of episodes being led by Davies will see the return of stars David Tennant and Catherine Tate, alongside Finnney’s Rose. Following those episodes, Ncuti Gatwa (Sex Education) will take over, becoming the Fifteenth Doctor, who, according to Neil Patrick Harris, who guest stars in the upcoming season, will be queer. “I got to meet and interact with him a bit and he’s glorious,” Harris told Variety, speaking at the time about Gatwa. “He’ll be the first gay Doctor, which is going to be super cool, a sexier Doctor.”
Every bit of news that leaks about this upcoming season just gets us more and more excited for the new adventures of our favorite Time Lord.
