Death is inevitable, and sadly so is regeneration. The BBC has announced that Matt Smith is leaving Doctor Who. He will appear in the 50th anniversary and in the Christmas special, during which he will regenerate. Then some new man goes sauntering away. Smith didn’t give a specific reason other than, “when ya gotta go, ya gotta go and Trenzalore calls.”
In the announcement on the BBC’s Doctor Who blog, Smith took the time to thanks the fans, cast, and crew of the show:
Doctor Who has been the most brilliant experience for me as an actor and a bloke, and that largely is down to the cast, crew and fans of the show. I’m incredibly grateful to all the cast and crew who work tirelessly every day, to realise all the elements of the show and deliver Doctor Who to the audience. Many of them have become good friends and I’m incredibly proud of what we have achieved over the last four years.
Having Steven Moffat as show runner write such varied, funny, mind bending and brilliant scripts has been one of the greatest and most rewarding challenges of my career. It’s been a privilege and a treat to work with Steven, he’s a good friend and will continue to shape a brilliant world for the Doctor.
The fans of Doctor Who around the world are unlike any other; they dress up, shout louder, know more about the history of the show (and speculate more about the future of the show) in a way that I’ve never seen before, your dedication is truly remarkable. Thank you so very much for supporting my incarnation of the Time Lord, number Eleven, who I might add is not done yet, I’m back for the 50th anniversary and the Christmas special!
It’s been an honour to play this part, to follow the legacy of brilliant actors, and helm the TARDIS for a spell with ‘the ginger, the nose and the impossible one’. But when ya gotta go, ya gotta go and Trenzalore calls. Thank you guys. Matt.
Doctors leaving and regenerating has always been a part of the show, so after four years in the part it’s not surprising to see Smith stepping away, but that doesn’t mean we have to be happy about it.
It was a huge challenge for Smith to take over from David Tennant, who fans adored, but I think he nailed it. As with other incarnations of the Doctor, Smith didn’t try to replicate the character the way it was played before. He made it his own. The Eleventh Doctor’s travels in the TARDIS were some of the best in the show’s history, and I’m sad that we’ll only get to see two more of them.
In the blog post on the BBC site it says a video from Matt Smith about his leaving the show is forthcoming. We’ll post it when it goes live.
I don’t want Matt Smith to go.
(via BBC Doctor Who Blog, image via The BBC)
- Matt Smith and David Tennant spoke on the set of the 50th about being The Doctor
- The Silent Stars Go By is a brilliant novel about the Eleventh Doctor and the Ponds
- Slacktory made this supercut of fake websites and apps used in Doctor Who
