Neil Patrick Harris Joins ‘Doctor Who’ 60th Anniversary in Mystery Role

Emmy and Tony award-winning actor Neil Patrick Harris has been cast in the 60th anniversary special for Doctor Who.

Harris, best known for his role in How I Met Your Mother, Doogie Howser, M.D., and The Matrix: Resurrections, is currently filming scenes that will air in 2023, said the BBC.

Russell T. Davies, who was the showrunner of Doctor Who from 2005-2010, and will rejoin the show next year, said in a typically mysterious statement: “It’s my huge honour to open our studio doors for the mighty Neil Patrick Harris… but who, why, what is he playing? You’ll just have to wait. But I promise you, the stuff we’re shooting now is off the scale. Doctor beware!”

It is unknown if Harris will be playing a villain character in the episode(s), but Davies’s “beware!” line certainly seems to tip his hand in that direction. It also remains uncertain whether Harris will appear opposite David Tennant’s returning Doctor, or Ncuti Gatwa’s new Doctor, both of whom have already been announced.

Shortly after news broke about Gatwa becoming the next Doctor, Davies revealed that the Heartstopper‘s Yasmin Finney would be joining the series as Rose. While very little is known about who Rose may be, some fans believe that she could be Donna Noble’s (Catherine Tate) daughter, with some speculating that Donna could have remembered Rose Tyler’s name following the devastating Doctor/Donna meta-crisis event that wiped her memory of her time with the Doctor in a previous episode of the series.

This isn’t the first time Davies and Harris have created magic together: the two partnered on 2021’s miniseries It’s a Sin.

Filming is already underway for the 60th Anniversary special. An official release date has not yet been announced, but the special will air sometime in 2023.