The TARDIS has picked up another new star for Doctor Who’s next season: drag star Jinkx Monsoon, who will appear in the upcoming 14th season of the show in what the BBC describes as a “major new role.”
Monsoon — who has also appeared in Steven Universe, and recently on Broadway as Chicago’s Mama Morton, as well as performing and winning seasons of both Ru Paul’s Drag Race and Drag Race All-Stars — will appear alongside Ncuti Gatwa’s 15th Doctor in the 2024 season of Doctor Who.
“In a galaxy of comets and supernovas, here comes the biggest star of all,” returning showrunner Russell T. Davies said in a press release. “Jinkx Monsoon is on a collision course with the TARDIS, and Doctor Who will never be the same again!”
“I’m honoured, thrilled, and utterly excited to join Doctor Who,” Monsoon added. “Russell T. Davies is a visionary and a brilliant writer — I can’t wait to get into the weeds with him and the crew! I hope there’s room in the TARDIS for my luggage.”
Beyond being a “major” role, details about Monsoon’s character are being kept under wraps. But the move to cast a history-making drag artist at a time when drag is being targeted by right-wing reactionaries and politicians in both Doctor Who’s home in the UK and abroad, it’s great to see the series take a positive step forward in placing LGBTQIA people everywhere in Doctor Who’s expansive, and welcoming, view of time and space — in all its dimensions.