Doctor Who Season 8 Diversity Casting News
Doctor Who Season 8 has just cast Samuel Anderson as a recurring character! This is particularly exciting as he is the first major companion-status character of color cast during the Steven Moffat Doctor Who era. Since Moffat began his tenure as showrunner, he’s gotten a lot of flack for a lot of different things, but maybe he’s trying to turn some things around? Besides some stand alone characters (particularly Amara Karan in “The God Complex” and Nina Toussaint-White in “Let’s Kill Hitler“), there haven’t been that many characters of color with character development at all during the last few seasons, so it’s nice to see one cast now. Is Moffat just responding to criticism or was Anderson the best suited for the role and race wasn’t an issue? I hope it’s a bit of both. Steven needs to really change some things about the show’s plot, character development, and casting in order to keep hold of his very tenuous hold on his position as showrunner–people have been getting more and more fatigued with someone they once loved. I personally have tried to ignore some of the faults of the show in favor of simply enjoying it, but I’ve certainly understood the complaints. Hopefully the is the start of a new era of racial inclusion, at the very least.
BBC One – Doctor Who.
EDIT: Thanks Brian Davison for pointing out who I’ve missed in the past few seasons: Angie and Artie Maitland (the children Clara was a nanny for), Queen Nefertiti, the Van Baalen brothers. I did indeed forget them. But it is nice to have a major recurring character of color.
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02/24/2014 @ 4:39 PM
Apparently you’ve somehow managed to completely miss Angie and Artie Maitland (the children Clara was a nanny for), Queen Nefertiti, the Van Baalen brothers, and others.
Oh, and you’ve also missed that Moffat’s first name is SteVEN, not Stephen.
02/24/2014 @ 5:00 PM
Thanks Brian for pointing those guys out. I’ve added them in. =( But it is nice to have a major recurring character of color, I’d wished for more of the kids getting more plot/development, hopefully this character will get some. And you’re right about his name, I always think it’s one way and the convince myself I’m wrong and spell it the other way. I probably should’ve google-checked. Thanks! =)
02/25/2014 @ 8:26 AM
He looks really cool, makes me even more excited for the new Doctor. Annoyingly, I’m already spotting comments around the Internet about him “being the new Micky” (Rose’s ex)…
02/25/2014 @ 9:11 AM
Ugh of course. Already he seems initially cooler than Mickey was in the beginning and I don’t know if they gave hints to his story yet, but I hope he’s from somewhere in space or the future.
02/25/2014 @ 10:12 AM
I think I read on nerdist that he’s also a teacher at Clara’s school (which in the world of Doctor Who of course doesn’t exclude him being from space/the future)