Here’s why everyone is obsessed with Jinkx Monsoon on ‘Doctor Who’

The 14th season of Doctor Who is off to a very grand, very gay start, thanks in no small part to a star turn from drag legend Jinkx Monsoon.

Though Monsoon is best known for winning RuPaul’s Drag Race twice, she’s recently broken into the mainstream with roles on Broadway and TV, including her recent appearance on Doctor Who. Monsoon plays Maestro, a villain stealing music from humanity.

Monsoon’s performance is being heralded as an all-time great for the long-running British sci-fi series. Fans of hers who’ve never seen Doctor Who are even tuning in (and discovering just how wacky the show can be).

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One fan pointed out that drag queens (and queer folks in general) have always made fabulous villains. Who else could bring the perfect mix of camp and pure evil like a drag artist? (Ursula the Sea Witch, anyone?)

Monsoon, for her part, is beyond grateful to join the Doctor Who universe, even calling it a “dream role” in a post on X.

“There was a time, going to acting school, when I thought I had to give up drag to be an actor, and it turns out that wasn’t true,” Monsoon said in an interview with Variety. “And then I thought I had given up my chances of being an actor because I had so firmly planted my flag in the world of drag, and that ended up not being true. And now here I am, marrying the two art forms that get me out of bed in the morning, and I get to do them both at the same time. It feels surreal.”

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This season is also the first to feature Ncuti Gatwa as the 15th Doctor, making him both the first Black actor and the first out queer actor to take on the iconic role. Gatwa is already a fan favorite, but conservative viewers are up in arms about both his and Monsoon’s casting. Luckily, Monsoon has the perfect response for any haters: “Who gives a f*ck what bigots think?”

“A more optimistic way and idealistic way of looking at this is that popular opinion is not on their side. They are a very loud group and they’re growing louder as they grow smaller,” she continued to Variety. “For every transphobic, racist, bigoted Doctor Who fan that we lose this season, there are going to be three to five new fans who are coming in for the representation. So to those fans — who are not fans — I say, ‘Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.’”

New episodes of Doctor Who are streaming on Disney+.

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