Daniel Craig as the next Doctor? Stranger things have happened…
This week, the BBC confirmed that a new series of Doctor Who is officially in the works, and the plan is to strip the show back to its basics and create a brand new era.
While it’s unlikely that we’ll find out who the next Time Lord is any time soon, considering the sci-fi series likely won’t return until 2028 or 2029 at the earliest, that hasn’t stopped the rumour mill from churning.
On Friday, a first-look image was revealed of James Bond star Daniel in Greta Gerwig’s upcoming Narnia film, The Magician’s Nephew. The image was shared on X, with a false claim that it was the ‘first look as Daniel Craig as The Doctor in Doctor Who’. As can be expected, the post went viral.
Liked 23,000 times on the social media platform, the DiscussingFish post resulted in some believing that Daniel had, in fact, been cast. Others quickly realised that it was fake, as it was shared by a satirical news account. Nonetheless, it did get people thinking… why couldn’t Daniel play the Doctor?
‘I know this is discussingfish but Daniel Craig would actually make a great Doctor,’ CameronBalling3 tweeted.
‘When the discussing fish post is actually something that made you kinda excited 😔,’ Dawsonwaht said, while abitunexpected stated: ‘This would go ridiculously hard.’
You can’t blame people for drawing a connection between Daniel in The Magician’s Nephew to Doctor Who. In the new image shared by Empire, the actor’s standing in a room that could resemble the Tardis, with all sorts of mechanical gadgets and large magnifying glasses surrounding him.
He’s wearing a waistcoat akin to Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor, as well as a bowtie.
Daniel, who’s playing the titular magician in the new Narnia film, has a workshop apron tied around his waist, and he’s sporting curly hair, giving him more of a whimsical look than fans might be used to.
All in all – he’s the spitting image of what one might imagine the Doctor to look like.
Would you like to see Daniel Craig as the next Doctor?
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Yes, it’s a fantastic idea!
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Absolutely not, he’s not the right fit
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I’m not sure
‘I’d decapitate someone for this,’ FineNDanDee said in response to the fake Doctor Who announcement.
‘Doctor Who getting Daniel Craig and Tony Gilroy would feed generations which is why I know we won’t get it,’ SirSnipeyy added, as the post also claimed that Andor creator Tony Gilroy was going to serve as showrunner.
X user ithinkitsaDanny said that they were ‘choosing to believe this is real’, while ZTheJustOk quipped that Daniel ‘would, unironically, be a fantastic Doctor’.
‘Wow I need Daniel Craig cast as the new Doctor Who ASAP,’ LukeRomeo added.
In addition to his stint as James Bond, which ended in 2021 with No Time To Die, Daniel has since become the face of another huge franchise, playing the famous private detective Benoit Blanc in the hugely popular Knives Out films.
Would he be open to becoming the face of another franchise, one that’s so cherished worldwide and is facing an uncertain future following Ncuti Gatwa’s exit? Right now, it feels like a far-fetched albeit exciting prospect.
But, as the Eleventh Doctor once said: ‘I am and always will be the optimist. The hoper of far-flung hopes, and the dreamer of improbable dreams.’ So why not?