Pray to be typecast
I haven’t had the pleasure of seeing any of the episodes, but the majority of what I read suggests that Christopher Eccleston is a hit in the new Doctor Who series. And he’s decided he’s not returning for the second season.
Bookies have tipped Casanova actor David Tennant as the hot favourite to replace Eccleston as the Time Lord, with odds of 1/10.
Other contenders for the role include Bill Nighy and comedian Eddie Izzard.
Eccleston, whose first appearance as the ninth Doctor attracted 10 million viewers, said he feared being typecast.
Let’s take a second to revel in the fact that bookies are taking bets on who will be the next Doctor. David Tennant seems to be a lock, but I’d probably lay a few bucks to Rowan Atkinson. Just because when the longshot pays off, it pays off.
What’s troubling to me, however, is Eccleston’s sudden fear of being typecast. Let’s face it – Sci-Fi is notorious for being a typecasting genre. William Shatner will always and forever be Captain Kirk, just as Leonard Nimoy will remain Spock for the rest of his life. But it’s at least partially made up for in the fact that genre fans love their actors. This allows Kevin Sorbo to go directly from Hercules to Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda, and guarantees that Walter Koenig will always find a nationally-televised program somewhere that is willing to cast him as a series semi-regular. And last I checked, Bruce Campbell had a career that was the envy of many wannabe actors.
Eccleston is afraid of being typecast? Success in Science Fiction or Fantasy practically guarantees typecasting. Did Eccleston honestly believe that nobody was going to watch the new Doctor Who? And if he didn’t make that assumption, why didn’t he worry about typecasting before he filmed 13 episodes?
It boggles the mind.