Peter Capaldi Is Leaving Doctor Who After Season 10

Capaldi announced the news himself on BBC Radio 2.

By Lauren Piester Jan 30, 2017 10:23 PMTags

The rumors are true, Who fans: Peter Capaldi will be leaving Doctor Who at the end of this year. 

Capaldi has been at the helm of the TARDIS for two seasons now, and will be back for a third, but he announced on Monday that it will be his last. 

"This will be the end for me," Capaldi told BBC Radio 2's Jo Whiley. "I feel sad. I love Doctor Who, it's a fantastic program to work on. It's been a huge pleasure to work with a family. I can't praise the people I've worked with more highly, but I've always been somebody that did a lot of different things. But I've never done one job for three years. This is the first time I've done this, and I feel it's sort of time for me to move on to different challenges."

This news may not come as a huge shock to fans of the long-running series, since rumors of Capaldi's exit have been swirling for months now. 

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In late 2015, he told The Telegraph, "I love Doctor Who but it can be quite an insular world and I want to do other things. There will come a time when this is over. But I knew that when I started." 

The end of season 10 marks the end of Capaldi's contract, and he was asked to return, but it was his decision to say goodbye to the character. 

"I just thought, you know, I love this, but I don't know how long I can do it and give it my best. And if I'm not giving it my best, I don't want to do it," he says. "I wanted to move onto other challenges. But there will never be anything that's been more special to me."

BBC America

His exit will coincide with showrunner Steven Moffat's exit from the series. Just over a year ago, Moffat announced that the upcoming season 10 will be his last. The 2018 season will be run by Broadchurch creator Chris Chibnall

However, we've still got a whole season to go before we have to say goodbye to either Capaldi or Moffat. 

"I'm still Doctor Who," he says. "We've got a lot to do. We're doing epic stuff, and there's a lot of stuff to do. I'm not done yet." 

Capaldi took over for Matt Smith in 2013. 

Doctor Who returns Saturday, April 15 at 9 p.m. on BBC America.