Who What Now?

Benjamin Button isn’t the only fellow growing younger these days: Official word just came down from the BBC powers-that-be that 26-year-old Matt Smith has been cast as the next iteration of Doctor Who, for Stephen Moffatt’s first full season as showrunner, beginning in 2010. (David Tennant will still be holding down the fort for a few more specials in 2009 — he regenerates next Christmas.)

Well, I don’t know anything about this fellow, so I can’t really evaluate the pick until I’ve seen him face down a few Daleks and the like. But given the A-lister and outside-the-box names that have been floating around over the past few weeks (James McAvoy, Bill Nighy, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Catherine Zeta Jones, etc.), it’s hard not to feel slightly disappointed about this. Ah well, I’ll manage.

2 thoughts on “Who What Now?”

  1. I don’t know. I’ve really enjoyed the Moffat episodes and I think the series is in good hands. That said, I’m not liking this casting. At least not on the basis of one brief clip of an interview and couple of photos. I feel like such a codger saying this but, dang, get that boy a haircut. This is Doctor Who, not Flock of Seagulls.

    I’m not familiar with any of Mr. Smith’s previous roles but it sounds like he’s a respected actor, so that’s something. I was hoping for someone a bit older and with a bit more gravitas as a change of pace.

  2. Ya, agreed — this fellow seems a bit of a blatant pitch to the Harry Potter/Twilight crowd. But I have faith in Moffatt (or the “Grand Moff,” as the wags are callig him), so if he saw something in Smith, I’m inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt for a few episodes.

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