Are there two Doctors in the Doctor Who: Christmas Special? Details explored

Doctor Who: Christmas Special seems to be breaking the First Law of Time- Don't cross your own timestream, that the doctor must never ever meet himself. But when has anybody followed the rule in the first place?

The new Christmas Special boasts two doctors in this holiday special episode. The fifteenth Doctor Ncuti Gatwa teams up with Bridgerton's Nicola Coughlan and a version of himself in the Time Hotel to celebrate Christmas everywhere at once and fight villains.

Ncuti Gatwa is the fifteenth Doctor, after David Tennant, who played both the tenth and the fourteenth doctors. Gatwa premiered in "The Church on Ruby Road," to continue his role as the doctor in one of the most popular series since decades.

While Gatwa's Season 2 is slated to premiere next year, Season 3 has not been confirmed.

More on Doctor Who: Christmas Special in our story.

What will the Doctor Who: Christmas Special be about?

Titled 'Joy to the World', the official logline of the episode reads as follows,

"When Joy checks into a London hotel in 2024, she opens a secret doorway to the Time Hotel — discovering danger, dinosaurs and the Doctor. But a deadly plan is unfolding across the Earth, just in time for Christmas."

Apart from the classic villain fighting and time-jumping, Gatwa's Doctor Who will also time-jump to meet another version of himself, as the trailer shows two doctors. The episode's setting is the Time Hotel, which can take its residents to any point in time.

And seems like Nicola's Joy has opened a doorway to the hotel and unleashed this double madness. While the preview doesn't reveal much, apart from the chaos that will follow, there is a reference to a key moment from Season 1.

Doctor Who's doppelganger remarks, “Oh, do you see?! You have to be mysterious all the time, that’s why everyone leaves you, that is why you are always alone.” and cut to Ruby Sunday hugging the Doctor goodbye in the series 14 finale. Brutal! Who thought you could hurt yourself that much?

Doctor Who: Christmas Special will premiere on Disney+ on Christmas Day, December 25, 2024, at 9:10 a.m. PST (12:10 p.m. EST).

What other actors can we expect in Doctor Who: Christmas Special?

The Holiday episode of Doctor Who: Christmas Special is directed by Alex Sanjiv Pillai and written by Steven Moffat. Russell T Davies, Moffat, Joel Collins, Phil Collinson, Julie Gardner, and Jane Tranter serve as executive producers.

Actors slated to appear in the Doctor Who: Christmas Special are as follows-

Ncuti Gatwa as the fifteenth Doctor Who (and his doppelganger)
Nicola Coughlan as Joy
Steph de Whalley as Anita
Jonathan Aris as Melnak
Joel Fry as Trev
Peter Benedict as Basil
Julia Watson as Hilda
Niamh Marie Smith as Sylvia

From the teaser clip released in November, fans will remember that the Doctor is currently fighting one of Moffat's early villains—intergalactic weapons manufacturer Villengard (from the original Doctor Who scripts), who also appeared in the 2024 episode 'Boom.'

Add a T-rex, train rides, and a hotel celebrating Christmas everywhere at once, from prehistoric times to the present day. Tune into this double madness on Christmas Day, and ''we'll find out'' how this will end!