Doctor Who Star Matt Smith Talks Potential Time Ladies And Brand-New Companions

By David Wharton | Updated

This article is more than 2 years old

Rumors that Doctor Who might maybe sorta possibly at some point maybe have the Doctor regenerate into a female version of the character are nothing new, but they did get another surge of life recently when showrunner Steven Moffat stirred the pot by saying the idea was something that could happen “someday.” Because the internet hates to let go of a bone once they’ve been thrown one, it was inevitable that somebody would get around to asking Matt Smith his opinion on the subject, and lo and behold, they have.

During an interview with The Mary Sue, Smith was asked which acrtesses Smith thought could fill the Doctor’s sneakers, should the show ever actually go through with the idea. After buying some time with a bit of “there are so many” delaying tactics, he finally throws out a name that I doubt anyone else would have thought of:

I mean, it would change the role because she would be a woman so when you put her in a room full of men, it’s a different scenario than if you put a man in a room full of men, because she’s a different sex. Would it change the fundamentals of the character? No. But it’s an interesting idea, if the Doctor’s a woman, does she have a Doctor baby? Is there a mini-Doctor? I don’t know, who knows? What actresses could play her? Oh gosh, so many, so many could play her. It depends on what age you would want. It could be…Charlize Theron is pretty kick ass, isn’t she? They just have to find a brilliant actress. I never see that happening any time soon to be honest.

Look, we’re not denying that Charlize Theron can act when given the right project, but I think I’m safe in suggesting that she isn’t high on many fans’ lists of potential female Doctors. And that’s to say nothing of the “Doctor baby” bit. I realize they put you on the spot, Matt, but these are the sort of comments that follow you forever… As for Theron, maybe David Yates will cast her as the lead of his probably imaginary big-screen Doctor Who movie.

While we may besmirch Matt Smith’s taste in Time Ladies, he did have some good insights on the departure of the Ponds, how that will affect the Doctor, and what it will mean for his relationship with his next companion.

I mean, the interesting thing is, we sort of pick up where we left him and he was oon his own. And as Amy says to him, he’s got to be careful of traveling on his own. I think it makes him perhaps less compassionate somehow … when he meets a new Companion, I think what’s so exciting about this show is it gets to change him as a central character. I can’t tell you what will happen to him because it would spoil it but absolutely I think it will affect him and change him and change his nature because it can’t not.

Doctor Who is currently airing Saturday nights on BBC One and BBC America. There are four more episodes left this month before the hiatus.