‘Doctor Who’ season 8: Jenna Coleman on John Hurt, replacing Matt Smith, and more

Jenna Coleman has had herself quite a busy past couple of weeks in America. First, she made her inaugural visit to San Diego Comic-Con to speak about her role on “Doctor Who,” and from there she migrated straight up to Los Angeles, the site of the annual Television Critics Association summer panels. This is where just about every show on the map is discussed on some level, and for Coleman, there’s clearly quite a bit of content worth talking about.

The first order of business? The show’s upcoming 50th anniversary special airing on November 23, which features the return of David Tennant, Billie Piper and others, along with the guest appearance of John Hurt in the role of “The Doctor.” We’d describe the part here, but we figure that Coleman, who has already filmed the episode, could do a better job. Just check out her comments per “Access Hollywood” for more:

“He is the Doctor that no one knew about. He is the Doctor that’s never talked about, not mentioned and of course were going to explore why and that story, and also see David’s Doctor and Matt’s Doctor and John’s Doctor – the three of them interacting, which is great.”

Coleman also reiterated what is the comment of the month when it comes to rumors as to who could be the next Doctor: She has not heard anything. Not only that, but we do not expect this to change at all over the next few weeks, given that the show may wait until September to really figure out who is the right person for the part. Jenna did say, however, that she is having a hard time digesting the knowledge that Matt Smith is leaving following the Christmas special, even though she has known about it for some time.

Regardless of whoever replaces him, Smith is already feeling rather confident about one thing: The show is going to be just fine without him.

Photo: BBC One