Well kids, here we go again. Back on January 30th, Peter Capaldi announced that series 10 of Doctor Who would be his last and that he would be leaving at the end of the 2017 Christmas Special. Ok, now it might actually be the end of series 10. Seriously, this shit is confusing. Frankly, as much as I hate all of series 8 with a fiery passion and as much as he's stayed on for the average shelf life of Doctor Who lead, I'm kinda sad to see the old guy go. I mean, they FINALLY figured out how to write for the guy last series, and now he's leaving. Well, on the plus side, Moffatt's going with him!
So with Capaldi's departure, the speculation commenced! And as is tradition, most of the rumored choices to replace Capaldi are utterly crazy pants. Actually, they're not just crazy, they're also not terribly original! I mean, go into the Adiposean Archive, track down the two parter I wrote the last time the Children of Gallifrey were in this position, and see how many names are on both these lists. So with that in mind:
THE CANDIDATES
Eddie Redmayne: Ok, I've seen "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them." I get why humans think Redmayne would make a great Doctor. The man has even said in interviews that he'd love to play the role. So, if I may respond to this suggestion in the most appropriate way I can come up with:
The fact humans actually think an Oscar winning actor is going to walk away from a promising movie career to work for no where near as much fIlming s tv show for the BBC is kind of amazing. Seriously, there's no way in hell Redmayne gets cast. If you want to see him as the Doctor, just wait for Fantastic Beasts II.
Richard Ayode: Oh hey, it's the first of our "names people won't let go of because it generates hits" names! You've seen him from time to time in theater (Box Trolls, The Watch etc) but if you know him it's most likely from The IT Crowd. He's also come up in the past. Basically he's been the standard "Person of Colour" pick every time speculation starts up. Could Ayode get picked? Yeah, it's possible. The fact that his name has come up for at least two straight regenerations now makes me think that the BBC probably at least HAS looked at the guy. Do I think he gets the nod? No, it ain't likely.
Richard Ayode has a burgeoning movie career y'all. Add to that a steady gig as a writer, tv work, and he's got all sorts of reasons to say no.
Hugh Dancy: Ever watch NBC's Hannibal? Yeah? Ok, picture Will Graham with a sonic screwdriver because that's what we're looking at here. Ya know what else? It's why he ain't getting picked. The BBC is going to want somebody people will look at and say "that's the Doctor." They don't want to have humans going "oh hey, they cast that guy from Hannibalas the next Doctor! "But Peter Capaldi was pretty well known as Malcolm Tucker and Cardinal Richelieu over in England!" Right now that's what you're thinking and we both know it! I got three words for you: Harrison Ford Exemption.Here's how the Harrison Ford exemption works: when an actor has been cast in one franchise, they're consistently known first and foremost for that character (I.E. Christian Bale as Batman in the Dark Knight Trilogy) so that whenever the actor is cast in a role, they're referred to by the franchise character (I.E. "Did you see that stock market movie where Batman plays a market analyst?), however, when that actor has been cast in two franchises or more, they're no longer tied to one specific character. Ever notice how it's really rare to hear "can you believe they cast Gandalf as Cogsworth in Beauty and the Beast" and no human ever says "Man, Professor X was an AMAZING Nazi in Green Room!" That's how the exemption works. That's how Capaldi got cast and why Hugh Dancy won't. He's a good name for keeping speculation going, but nothing more.
Idris Elba: Ok, this has gotta stop. Yeah, the guy would be a great Doctor. Yeah, the guy has a history with the BBC thanks to Luther. No, they ain't picking him. Idris Elba is the male version of Helen Mirren amongst potential Doctors. You'd give anything to see them in the role, but deep down you know good and god damn well he won't be offered. I cannot begin to describe how many ways this ain't happening.
David Morrissey: So, if they cast him, are fans going to start calling him the "Governing Doctor?" Is "SuperWhoDeadLock" gonna be a thing? Odds are, Morrissey doesn't get the part either, but so far he's the most likely candidate on the list. He has genre cred through his work on The Walking Dead, and he appeared several years ago on a special for a show about some guy who travels in a box through time. Can't quite recall what it's name was...
And that's probably the biggest knock against Morrissey. Sure Doctor Who has been casting previous guest stars as lead roles since the early 80's, but they just did exactly that with Peter Capaldi. It's possible he could get cast, sure. Is it likely? No. I can't see the BBC going the same casting route twice in a row.
David Harewood: Again a rumor that just won't go away. Harewood of course showed up as Joshua Naismith in The End of Time, so Doctor Who fans will be fairly familiar with the actor. In reality, if you've watched genre television of any form, you've probably seen his work. In fact, thanks to the CW, you're currently seeing his work on Supergirl. It's also why you're not going to see him as the next Doctor. Yes, Greg Berlanti and everyone behind the scenes in the Arrowverse are said to be huge Doctor Who fans and were apparently more than happy to let John Barrowman have time off from (at the time) Arrow in order to return as Captain Jack Harkness for a Day of the Doctor Fiftieth Anniversary guest appearance if needed.
Key words there, "guest appearance." Because a guest appearance is something a show can accommodate. A regular role and the promotional work that would go with it? There's no way in hell they let Harewood do it if they have any plans of keeping the Martian Manhuntet on Supergirl. If they kill him off on this season (which would've already been announced) then sure, but that ain't gonna happen and neither is he.
Michael Sheen - Ok, you remember that really weird vampire in the Twilight movies? Wait, I should be way more specific. How about Lucien from the Underworld franchise? The robo-bartender from Space Rapey (see it and you'll understand) Blockbuster Passengers? Castor, the club owner in Tron: Legacy? How about the voice of "House" in the Doctor Who episode The Doctor's Wife? Look, you know there's no way you don't remember Michael Sheen from at least one of those. Michael Sheen is that guy that you've seen before but probably have no idea you did.
Sheen could get the role, but he has just enough of a film career that I'm not sure why he would want to. Is he willing to give up the variety of film making to work for scale with the BBC? I'm thinking not. Let's put him down as a maybe for the moment.
Anthony Stewart Head - This one's less an official pick, more a case of Head being asked about the opening in an interview about the job and indicating he'd be extremely interested if asked. Tony Head is my official "this isn't going to happen but holy shit wouldn't it be amazing if it did?!" pick. We all know the man from something, Buffy the Vampire Slayer if nothing else and we've seen what Head can do. You need dark? We've seen him go dark. You need funny? We've seen his deadpan delivery many times. If the BBC wants to do a musical episode of Doctor Who, Anthony Stewart Head can do that to! And I'm just talking about what he did on Buffy!
The problem here is the same problem I've mentioned with several other picks. Familiarity. When we see Anthony Stewart Head, we see Giles. We see Uther Pendragon, hell some of you probably see the titular Repo Man from Repo the Genetic Opera. Granted y'all have likely forgotten that he's already appeared in two tenth Doctor adventures and done at least one audiobook, but there's still the fact we already see him as something. The BBC wants someone we'd see as the Doctor and nobody else.
Admit it though humans, you just pictured Rupert Giles with a sonic screwdriver. And it's beautiful.
Ben Wishaw - Another name bookies just can't seem to get enough of. It's almost literally as if they pull out the same list of actors every time the Doctor is about to regenerate. You'll primarily know this human as "Q" in the current run of James Bond movies. Could Wishaw be cast? Sure, anything's possible. Assuming of course the guy can get away from film commitments long enough for the three quarters of a year grind that filming and promoting a tv series like Doctor Who requires. Ben Wishaw already HAS a franchise that he's quite happy with, and probably an easier schedule for more money. He didn't take the role when Matt Smith left, so why do it now? As Wishaw himself has said, "I don't think you can be Q and the Doctor. That would be wrong." Yes, other humans have done multiple franchises. They just haven't done it at the same time. For a reason.
Seriously, Ben Wishaw's name has gotta stop coming up.
Andrew Scott - Oh, oh yeah. They're really going to let Moriarity play the Doctor. It's not like Andrew Scott isn't already playing the bad guy in ever English made movie ever or anything, it's just laughable that he's even rumored. And I don't mean "I love what this would do to the Superwholock people" laughable.
Rory Kinnear - Rory Kinnear is basically England's Danny Trejo. He's that human who, you have no idea who he is, but he keeps showing up on everything and you're like "oh THAT guy!" He's done just about everything English cinema has to offer, from The Imitation Game to iBoy (and actually, if you're tired of standard superhero movies, you should check out iBoy on Netflix)but you'll know him as Bill Tanner from the current run of James Bond movies if nothing else. Frankly, if you want to know why he's not going to get the part of the Doctor, go back up a few lines and re-read everything I said about Ben Wishaw. It's literally the exact same scenario.
Kris Marshall - Every once in awhile, the bookies taking bets on Doctor Who casting will stop taking bets on an actor. Last time around, they shut it down completely because they were absolutely certain Peter Capaldi was going to be announced as the next Doctor. Obviously he was, and Kris Marshall is currently somewhere wishing lighting would strike twice. It won't.
See, Capaldi announced he was stepping down, and within days Marshall had left his own show, some BBC drama called Death in Paradise. I've never heard of it either. Anyway, the bookies immediately stopped taking bets on him because they were utterly convinced his casting was a mere announcement away. I'm pretty sure that after that somebody went "There's no way they announce the new Doctor before Capaldi's last series has even started!" and betting resumed immediately. Do humans not understand that the only sure thing in gambling is "the house always wins?"
Sacha Dhawan - Straight up no. And when I say no, I mean "I'm not even going to bother explaining why, just no." Sometimes I honestly think representation is like the "cause du jour" for so many humans. I mean, normally this is a good thing. But sometimes it gets taken to far and people are saying to cast a non-white human for absolutely no other reason than the fact they're a non-white human, but frankly that's a whole other article I could do.
Fact is, I'm pretty sure eve Dhawan himself has said "I'd love to do it, but it ain't gonna happen."
FOR THE LADIES...
There's a lot of humans out there who think it's far past time the Doctor was played by a woman. Moffat all but set this idea up with the introduction of Missy in Series 8 and a cross gender (am I allowed to say "trans gender" here?) regeneration near the end of series 9. The idea is about the only thing Steven Moffat and I will ever agree on. And ladies? Y'all have casting rumors that may or may not be more batshit insane than the guys:
Tilda Swinton - Seriously? Lady's an amazing actress and more than capable of performing the role, but taking on the Doctor would actually be a giant step down for her. Tilda Swinton has more than enough Hollywood cred to take on whatever role she wants, whenever she wants. Y'all really think she's going to put herself through the rigors of a weekly sci-fi adventure series if she doesn't have to?
Helen Mirren - Kidding!!
Emma Thompson - Interesting choice but no. She might guest star, but there's no way she comes in for the lead role. None. It just won't happen.
Rose Leslie - This actually could happen. Leslie has a fair bit of geek cred thanks to her time on Game of Thrones and hasn't really been on the public eye since. Her last film roe was in Vin Diesel's personal fan fic The Lawt Witch Hunter, and we all know how well that went. So all that said, she's a really plausible choice. But does she even want the role? Aside from one piece of speculation on InnerSpace, I haven't seen any mention of Rose Leslie being up for the role. So she could be a sensible choice, but is the BBC even looking at her?
Suranne Jones - Probably not a name you'll know right off the bat, so let me help you a bit: Idris. That's right, Doctor Who fans will recognize Suranne Jones as Idris, the human body House dumped the essence of the TARDIS into in 2011's Neil Gaiman Masterpiece The Doctor's Wife. Jones has, probably, the most famous single episode appearance in the modern day version of Doctor Who. At the very least in all of Matt Smith's run. And that's why, while possible, odds are she's not getting the role. I checked IMDB, and Jones started a new series in 2017 called Save Me as well as doing another series of Doctor Foster. In short, she's busy. Besides which, once again do we need another run of the show feeling it has to explainy the Doctor chose the face that (s)he has?
Gillian Anderson - To be frank, if Gillian Anderson walked into the BBC's offices right now and says she wants the role, she'd probably get it. That said, Anderson has already signed on with Fox for her other famous Sci-Fi franchise. It was recently announced she'd signed on for another ten episodes of the renewed X-Files. I'm going out on a limb and saying this Neil Gaiman pick likely won't happen.
Olivia Coleman - Ok internet, just stop with this. Like seriously, this has to stop. This is like Ben Wishaw or Richard Ayode for the ladies. Every time rumors of the next Doctor start, Olivia Coleman's name comes up. You'll know her as Prisoner Zero if you remember The Eleventh Hour, but odds are, you most likely know her from Broadchurch. And ya know who thinks she'd make an excellent Doctor? Her Broadchurch costar. Some guy named Tennant? And ya know who thinks she likely ain't interested in the role? David freakin' Tennant. Seriously, if Coleman was interested in the role, she'd have taken it by now.
Maxine Peake - I literally have no idea who this is. She's apparently known for shows The Village and Silk. Again, no clue. Frankly, I think her name coming up is some writer going "I like her, so I'll put her name in the mix." Then again, the fact she's not super well known might actually help.
Hayley Atwell - Oh sweet tap dancing Jesus on an Ice Cream Sandwich I want this to happen. Like seriously, I want this so badly I'd be willing to try sobriety to get it. I mean yes, pretty much every reason I've listed against other actors being picked would apply here. You know what? I don't give a damn, I still want this. If you're reading this, odds are you've seen Agent Carter. Barring that you've at least seen a marvel movie before Civil War. You and I both know good and god damn well that Hayley Atwell is more than capable of playing the Doctor, in any incarnation.
Atwell has been asked in interviews if she would ever want to play the Doctor's companion and flat out said she wouldn't. She wants to be the Doctor. If Atwell learned anything from playing Peggy Carter, it's the value of playing second fiddle to no one. And frankly, it's a role she could really use. So far, none of Hayley Atwell's North American tv work has actually taken off, and that's a god damn crime. The lady is ridiculously talented, and just her work on Agent Carter alone tells us she can play the Doctor. Let's give the role to someone who knows their worth.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge - As desperate as I am for Hayley Atwell to get the role, Phoebe Waller-Bridge is the human most likely to get it if the show casts a female. The bookies have been favoring her, she ain't super well known in North America, and happens to have a role in a certain Star Wars spinoff about a certain scruffy looking nerf herder that just screams "built in publicity." Near as I can tell, Waller-Bridge ain't got no regular commitments that might impede her ability to commit to a schedule. Looking at her IMDb, it looks like the lady has been focused primarily on movie work for the last year. Considering it'll be a little bit yet before they start filming Series 11 (it's usually, like, early fall), Waller-Bridge's schedule is likely going to allow her to finish shooting the Han Solo movie, film Doctor Who and then do publicity for the movie. You know, if she's cool with having no free time for the foreseeable future.
CONCLUSION
Doctor Who don't usually start filming even the Christmas special until late summer/early fall or so. THEY STILL GOT PLENTY OF TIME!! Realistically, no matter how many bookies or UK Gossip Rags speculate on who's gonna get to be the next Doctor, ain't nobody got the part yet! We got practical choices like Phoebe Waller-Bridge, fan dream choices like Hayley Atwell, and "expert" choices like Kris Marshall. Hell, we even got "No seriously, we swear this guy's being considered this time!" choices like Ben Wishaw. You know what we don't got? AN ACTUAL DEFINITIVE CASTING CHOICE!
Seriously, I got a better chance of being cast than a lot of these humans here. So do what I'm doing y'all. Kick back, relax, and enjoy the fact that with Series 10, his fifth kick at the show running can, Steven Moffatt seems to have FINALLY gotten it right!
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