Doctor Who Star Jodie Whittaker Gracefully Addresses Backlash Against Her Casting

Whether you have multiple TARDIS bumper stickers or know nothing about the British sci-fi series Doctor Who, you’ve probably seen the news currently causing a meninist rage on Twitter: After 55 years of a reincarnating, time-traveling alien being portrayed by 12 different white men, the iconic BBC series is finally changing things up (if only slightly) by casting Attack the Block actress Jodie Whittaker as the titular Doctor.

In an interview with the BBC, Whittaker said that being cast as the Doctor “feels incredible.” She described the experience as “completely overwhelming; as a feminist, as a woman, as an actor, as a human, as someone who wants to continually push themselves and challenge themselves, and not be boxed in by what you’re told you can and can’t be.”

Most fans of the show are pretty excited over the news. Whittaker is already established in British television as Beth Latimer on Broadchurch, which aired its third and final chapter earlier this year. Yet a large and vocal minority of fans have been complaining since the news broke on Sunday, seeing the gender change as a direct result of pressure to be politically correct.

“I want to tell fans not to be scared by my gender. Because this is a really exciting time,” Whittaker continued in a pre-recorded interview, “and Doctor Who represents everything that’s exciting about change. The fans have lived through so many changes, and this is only a new, different one, not a fearful one.”