Though it was announced that Jodie Whittaker is leaving Doctor Who, the Thirteenth Doctor actress isn’t ready to let go of the show just yet.

When asked about her mindset while leaving the series, Jodie explained that, actually, she’s still very much in Doctor Mode:

“Well, it’s strange because, like, announcing you’re the Doctor, it always happens at a very strange time. So you announce that you’re going to play the Doctor and it happens before, essentially, you’ve stepped foot on set. So that’s one big announcement and the very emotionally, kind of contradicting thing is you announce you’re leaving, but you haven’t left.

“So I am still knee deep in shooting. So, to me, this hasn’t finished. You’re just in it, but I can be in it. So the good thing now is being announced that these are my last episodes that I’m shooting doesn’t mean I have to let go yet.”

Whittaker is currently shooting her final episode, a special to celebrate the BBC’s centenary next year, for which we’ve already seen spoilerific on-location photos (we won’t spoil that here, but we’ve covered it elsewhere).

It appears that Jamie Magnus Stone is returning to direct her last story. That’ll also be Chris Chibnall’s final as showrunner, a position he’s held since Series 11.

And maybe it’s okay that Jodie’s not ready to let go of Doctor Who just yet. After all, this is the franchise that you never truly leave, isn’t it?