There's a lot of excitement for Russell T Davies' Doctor Who return, and this new era for the iconic sci-fi franchise will kick off in style with three specials coming to BBC and Disney+ later this month.
In those, David Tennant will play the Fourteenth Doctor. However, he'll face a formidable challenge in Neil Patrick Harris' Toymaker. The villain debuted way back in 1966, so the fact Davies has dreamed up a new iteration of the celestial villain is undeniably intriguing.
Talking to SFX, the showrunner dropped some hints about what fans can expect from Harris' Toymaker.
"You need an extraordinary actor to match David at the height of his powers," Davies said. "Bear in mind that this is David’s TARDIS, his Doctor, his name in the titles. It’s not easy for guest stars to come into that."
"You need that size, you need that experience, you need that skill to match him, otherwise you’re in danger that the Doctor will tapdance all around you. That’s what Neil brings...a vast performance that is properly terrifying."
Elsewhere in the interview, Davies addressed the franchise's move to Disney+ outside of the UK. While that streamer has given the BBC series a cash injection, it sounds like they were far from the only platform looking to add the Doctor to its online catalogue.
"Obviously, that was written before the streamer was decided. Bear in mind, a lot of this went into production. It could have been Netflix, it could have been Amazon. It could’ve been anyone – you could say any name there that we went to," Davies reveals. "It’s our job to go to every single streamer in the world. All of them were very interested."
A new Doctor Who still has also been released which you can check out below.
The three Doctor Who specials, titled "The Star Beast" (November 25), "Wild Blue Yonder" (December 2) and "The Giggle "(December 9) will reunite the Fourteenth Doctor (David Tennant) and Donna Temple-Noble (Catherine Tate) as they come face-to-face with their most "terrifying" villain yet: the Toymaker (played by Neil Patrick Harris in his Doctor Who debut).
Other confirmed cast members include Yasmin Finney as Rose Temple-Noble, Miriam Margolyes as the voice of the Meep and Ruth Madeley as Shirley Anne Bingham, as well as returning characters Jacqueline King as Sylvia Noble, Karl Collins as Shaun Temple, and Jemma Redgrave as Kate Lethbridge-Stewart.
The 60th-anniversary specials are written by Russell T. Davies and directed by Rachel Talalay, Tom Kingsley, and Chanya Button, respectively.
Ncuti Gatwa takes control of the TARDIS as the Fifteenth Doctor over the festive period and the new season of Doctor Who will stream globally in 2024 on Disney+ and on the BBC in the UK and Ireland.