Doctor Who season 14: Ncuti Gatwa on landing the role
One month before the official premiere of Doctor Who season 14 on BBC One and Disney+, why not engage in some story-time? In particular, we have some more information now from star Ncuti Gatwa about being cast in the role of The Doctor, and it’s a pretty fantastic story to hear.
After all, this is a part no one can fully wrap their head around at first. It has been around for over half a century, and the part itself can be some nebulous and abstract. In a fantastic feature over at Entertainment Weekly, Gatwa noted that even prior to knowing about an audition, he had told his agent that he would love to do a show like Doctor Who someday. He was eventually the last person to audition, and he did so after binge-watching much of showrunner Russell T. Davies’ work with Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant.
Speaking further about it, the Sex Education alum still was not altogether confident he would get the part:
“I mean, this is a show that has been running in our country for 60 years. It’s like a British institution. And I just didn’t … This isn’t in a self-deprecating way, but I just didn’t think it was realistic that I would get the offer … was like, ‘I’m never gonna get it, so I might as well just get comfortable in this audition. I took my shoes off and did it a bunch of different ways.”
Clearly, that relaxed demeanor in the audition room appealed to Davies, who recognized almost immediately that he wanted to give Ncuti the role and hoped that in the interim, he did not accept a job elsewhere. (Davies himself was brought back to the show with the promise of a bigger budget, more creativity, and an eventual streaming partner.)
Now, Doctor Who has a chance to be bigger and more ambitious than ever. Here’s to hoping that it lives up to both the hype and also the incredibly long wait.
Related – Be sure to get some more news on Doctor Who now, including early plans for season 15
What are you most ready to see from Ncuti Gatwa leading into Doctor Who season 14?
Be sure to share right now in the attached comments! Once you do just that, keep coming back for some other updates.