At New York Comic Con on Thursday, Doctor Who’s Matt Smith discussed the challenges and rewards of playing the Eleventh Doctor from 2010 to 2013, and also shared some insights about his departure from the series, hinting at the dark turn his character might have taken had he continued in the role.
During a panel discussion accompanied by his co-stars Jenna Coleman (Clara Oswald) and Alex Kingston (River Song), Smith described his stint as the Eleventh Doctor as “the most interesting character I’ve played.” He elaborated, “[The Doctor] can do so much and his outlook on life and on the world, it’s everything, it’s his age and his infancy, his madness and his normality, his chaos and his sense… and this can happen in the space of 10 lines. He’s like a jazz musician, but in space.”
To Smith, one of the most “amazing and liberating” things about stepping into the role came from the rich history and mythology surrounding this iconic character, who has been a fixture of popular culture for decades. “With the Doctor, you can jump from A to Zed without explaining any other letters… once you sort of commit to that idea, you can really jump around the mad plethora of emotions this character has,” he said.
The darker element of the Doctor’s personality also appealed to Smith. “I think, well, I know, had I carried on, that’s what Steven [Moffat] was going to explore. It would’ve been like Breaking Bad. He’d have gone to the dark side.” With this in mind, perhaps it’s less of a surprise that when asked which role he would have liked to have played in the Russell T. Davies era (2005-2010) of Doctor Who, Smith’s answer was The Master, a renegade Time Lord and archenemy of the Doctor.
Later, when the somewhat awkward question of whether Smith had left Doctor Who too soon was tossed the panel’s way, Kingston offered her dipomatic thoughts on the matter. “There is only a certain amount of time that anyone can play the Doctor, because you get burnt out. Think about it: they have these reams and reams of dialogue that mostly make no sense at all… and if there’s a chance they have a day off, a half-day off, they’re taken by the BBC to do media, interviews and things like that.”
Smith didn’t have much to add about the demands of the role, nor did he mention any specific reasons he left Doctor Who when he did. Though he did add that one of his “great regrets” about leaving the series was “that I didn’t get another season with Jenna.”
Were you sorry to see Matt Smith leave the role of the Doctor? Would you like to see him come back as the Eleventh Doctor, or even The Master, in future episodes of Doctor Who? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
Be sure to check back for more of iDigitalTimes’ coverage of New York Comic Con 2016 and more information about Doctor Who Season 10!
