No, Peter Capaldi is Not Leaving ‘Doctor Who’ … Yet

Doctor Who fans are notoriously good at sniffing out potential exits of its many stars over the years, as we most recently saw with Jenna Coleman’s Clara, but there’s no need to raise alarms over Peter Capaldi just yet. Despite a few rumors, Steven Moffat confirms that Peter Capaldi will continue to wield the sonic screwdriver (er … shades) through Doctor Who for the foreseeable future.

In a new interview with Variety, Moffat considered the future of the franchise over the next few years, assuring that Peter Capaldi wasn’t going anywhere just yet:

In terms of longevity of the show, I think you’ve said it could go five more years?

It is definitely going to last five more years, I’ve seen the business plan. It’s not going anywhere. And I think we can go past that. It’s television’s own legend. It will just keep going.

I understand you are now working on series 10. Can you give us any updates in terms of casting?

We all know that Jenna Coleman is leaving this year.

How about Peter Capaldi?

Peter Capaldi is going nowhere.

Additionally, Moffat also contrasted the series with Sherlock, which would be much more likely to end if Benedict Cumberbatch decided to hang up that famous coat:

“Doctor Who” is the all-time perfectly evolved television show. It’s a television predator designed to survive any environment because you can replace absolutely everybody. Most shows you can’t do that with. For example, once Benedict Cumberbatch gives up “Sherlock,” what are we going to do? We are going to stop, that’s what we are going to do. Most shows have a built-in mortality. But here is a show that sheds us all like scales; a show that can make you feel everything except indispensable. It will carry on forever, because you can replace every part of it.

The ninth season of Doctor Who continues airing Saturdays, but how long until we startt hearing about replacements for Jenna Coleman? If and when Peter Capaldi does leave, what new direction should casting undertake?

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