Showrunner reveals why Doctor Who and Yaz never kissed: ‘It was more heartbreaking’
This is why the 13th Doctor and Yaz never got their kiss. (BBC)
A former showrunner from Doctor Who has explained why the 13th Doctor, played by Jodie Whittaker, and Yasmin ‘Yaz’ Khan, played by Mandip Gill, never kissed.
It was one of the most disappointing finales in recent memory for Doctor Who fans, when the Doctor and their companion Yaz didn’t get their happy ending, despite admitting their feelings for each other.
“Thasmin” shippers were given nothing but longing glances and unspoken feelings to cling to in the season finale, with no hint of a big romantic climax, or even a moment of closure for Yaz.
Instead, Yaz and the 13th Doctor simply saw their romance come to an abrupt ending, leaving some fans, who hoping for an LGBTQ+ romance, to feel cheated.
Now, showrunner Chris Chibnall is explaining the thought process behind the infuriating turn that “Thasmin’s” romance took.
Chibnall, who worked on Doctor Who for five years, told the WHO Corner to Corner podcast that, although the crew had considered giving the tragic couple a kiss scene, it seemed perfectly heartbreaking to deprive them of that moment.
“I mean, we discussed [a Yaz and Doctor kiss]; I think it’s an unrequited love story,” said Chibnall.
“I don’t know whether that’s the right decision, you know, but it is an unrequited love story. I felt it was more heartbreaking if they didn’t.
“If I had to make the decision again, I might make it differently; I don’t know. I can see – it was a really 50/50 one.
“It wasn’t like, there wasn’t any sense of, ‘Oh, they’re not allowed to kiss’ or ‘they’re not going to kiss,’ it was just, like, dramatically, emotionally slightly more wrenching if they don’t.
“And also, I think if they kiss, you don’t get the final scene on top of the TARDIS. Because that scene was always sort of the kiss really, that’s the thing because it’s unconsummated, it’s pain and joy, and if they had a kiss, I think it’s, I don’t know, it changes it slightly.”
He continued: “ It’s a really delicate kind of pressure because it could’ve happened, and who said it didn’t happen at some point? But it wasn’t any sort of conscious decision not to have it for anything other than is it going to break your heart if they never quite get there?
“ It’s unspoken the feelings that they have for each other, as much as they’ve been declared, there’s also a depth in that final scene.”
With Ncuti Gatwa set to play the 15th Doctor, and confirmation from the Doctor Who team that he will be gay, there’s still hope for a Doctor Who LGBTQ+ romance.
But we’ll never get over what could have been.
