Actress Jodie Whitaker has been cast as The Doctor in the BBC’s long running science fiction television series Doctor Who. This marks the first time that a female actor has taken over the role. And, predictably, fanboys all over the internet are losing their minds.
But this was inevitable. If you did not see this coming you were not paying attention.
The producers and the fans have been talking about this possibility for years. It was a surprise to some when the producers went with a conventional choice in casting Peter Capaldi three seasons ago. Now there is a new show runner, Chris Chibnal, and the odds were that one of the actors from his previous show, Broadchurch, would wind up with the role. The odds that the new doctor would be a woman were also high.
Fans had been talking about the new Doctor Who actor for a long time, even before Peter Capaldi announced that he was leaving. There was a lot of ridiculously unrealistic dram fan casting going on. Some of this speculation suggested the possibility of a female actor being cast, even if the front runner was Tilda Swinton, a bit of amusingly unrealistic dream casting.
Nevertheless, now it has happened and the polarization has begun. Longtime fans are screaming their outrage, claiming that this isn’t their show anymore. There are arguments against her casting ranging from “It’s physically impossible” (a good one given that the Doctor is a shape-changing Time Lord who has lived over 1,000 years. We’ll buy that, but not that he could become a woman. That’s just impossible!) to “It’s not a genuine change… it’s just pandering to PC culture. It’s like click-bait”. Fans who are normally of sound mind are labeling it nonsense and saying that they will have no part of it.
Is it a casting stunt? Is it a move that is well overdue? You tell us.
Seriously, tell us, what you think about this. Tell us what you think or how you feel. Write a comment, write a rant, write an essay, because we will be following this up here on the website and in the magazine. Here is your chance to have your voice heard (like we could stop you!).