According to the Mirror, a source at the BBC has revealed the next actor to replace Peter Capaldi’s Time Lord. If the rumor is true, the next Doctor will be played by Love Actually actor Kris Marshall.
The Doctor would finally be a ginger!
Furthermore, the Doctor is set to regenerate during the 10th series, rather than in the Christmas special, which Capaldi stated is his final episode. Kris Marshall, according to the same source, has already joined the cast and begun filming his scenes.
Fans grew suspicious Marshall would be the actor to take over the role after he quit his most recent show, Death in Paradise, just days after Peter Capaldi announced his decision to quit.
Since Capaldi announced he was leaving the show earlier this year, there has been rumor after rumor about who will take on the role of the 13th Doctor. Names like Ben Whishaw, Rupert Grint, and Richard Ayoade were thrown into the mix. There was even hope that The Doctor would swap genders in this next regeneration, with Hayley Atwell, Lara Pulver, and even Tilda Swinton were named as possibilities.
The BBC wants to have a clean slate when the show returns in 2018 with series 11. They have Chris Chibnall, who is taking over the reigns as showrunner. They also want the next Doctor to be a younger, handsome male, harking back to the Tennant/Smith era. Merchandising has dropped sharply in recent years and there is a strong desire to boost the show’s popularity among kids.
Now that the final series featuring Capaldi as The Doctor premiered a few hours ago, the answer as to who will be the new face piloting the TARDIS is just a few hours of television away.
On The Graham Norton Show before the weekend, Peter Capaldi revealed that has already filmed his ‘death’ scene. Graham asked if him having filmed the scene meant that the new Doctor was already around and Peter said, “not necessarily.”
When asked how he could be appearing if he’s already ‘died’, he said “we’d have to wait and see.”
The BBC or Marshall’s representatives have yet to make an official statement.
