Ncuti Gatwa leads the latest season of Doctor Who with Russell T. Davies at the helm. The famed producer returned to the rebooted franchise despite years of claiming he would never turn his head back on the show again.
It’s not as if he doesn’t like the revival series, but Davies initially wanted to move on to other new projects. He remained a faithful Doctor Who lover, and he was very much proud of what he had accomplished over the time he spent with the franchise.
Russell T. Davies Shares True Reason For His Return To The Doctor Who Series
During his interview with Screen Rant, showrunner Russell T. Davies revealed why he decided to come back to the Doctor Who franchise even though he has mentioned a lot of times in the past that he’s not returning.
“I wanted to come back because I agreed with the BBC’s ambition for the show, which is to make it bigger, to make it a streamer, to go worldwide with it. Also, I’ve missed it. I love it.”
The latest installment is the fifth series where Davies serves as the head writer and executive producer.
“During the years when I was writing other shows, I’d always be asked that, ‘Would you ever write for Doctor Who again?’ And I’d just very politely say, ‘No, never.’ Because that’s the only nice thing you could say when someone else is sitting in your chair. I’m calling in my chair, that’s cheeky, but I’d never stopped thinking about it.”
He shared that he would go to town to buy a Doctor Who magazine, and he claimed to have owned every single edition of the periodical since 1979. Davies arrived at the decision to take another shot at it again because he felt that he was never really finished with Doctor Who.
The showrunner recalled how he got into a Zoom call that was supposed to be just a celebration of Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary, when all of a sudden, the head of BBC joined in the meeting. He got trapped in the call until he was asked if he wanted to return and run the next series, but they already knew the answer. “Everything they were planning, I was in immediately,” he added.
The energy of the modern version attracted him, and the fact that BBC worked out a plan to release it with Disney+ was something very novel for Davies.
Russell T. Davies Defends Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor Who
Speaking with Variety, Davies favored Ncuti Gatwa’s casting as the Fifteenth Doctor. The actor’s involvement in the show has been met with a lot of criticism, but the showrunner thinks he’s the perfect fit.
“They weren’t exactly the straightest men in the past. You’re talking about someone who does have a lightness and a joy about him that, to me, chimes with queer energy. It’s very rarely driving the story vehemently, but you will see moments exploring it. We’re not delivering a neutered Doctor.”
Davies promised that the new season will explore more storylines as well as the possibility of returning to “the classic iconic monsters” and “more Gods to come.”
Doctor Who Season 14 drops episodes on May 10 in the US (Disney+) and May 11 in the UK (BBC One).
