Yesterday, the BBC sent shockwaves across the Doctor Who fandom with the announcement that Grammy Award-winner, Jonathan Groff would be joining the long-running British series.
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Groff is a very popular actor and has most notably appeared in Glee, Looking, Mindhunter and as King George III in Broadway’s Hamilton, for which he was nominated for his second Tony Award – later earned an Emmy-nomination for his appearance in the pro-shot recording.
Doctor Who will mark Groff’s debut in a British series or movie and although it has been confirmed that he will be playing a “key role”, what that role is hasn’t been announced, but returning showrunner, Russell T. Davies may have left a hint.
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In a Twitter thread (linked below), Aemondsimp shared that Davies liked their speculative “Captain Jack” comment. While this doesn’t hold much weight, and Davies is known to like most comments on Instagram, it could hold some weight due to the recent allegations against original Captain Jack actor, John Barrowman which has prompted the BBC to sever ties with him.
Barrowman has played Captain Jack Harkness since his debut in the first season of the 2005 Doctor Who reboot. Due to his massive popularity, Harkness became a recurring companion to the Doctor with appearances in multiple seasons, specials, and even audiobooks to which Barrowman lent his voice to. In 2006, Barrowman and Harkness were promoted to leading the spinoff, Torchwood, which followed the staff of the Welsh branch of the Torchwood Institute.
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However, Barrowman has been the subject of multiple sexual misconduct allegations in which he allegedly exposed himself to his fellow Doctor Who and Sunset Boulevard cast members. Behavoiur that he has openly spoken about on the British daytime series, Lorraine.
The allegations sparked a wave of alterations to then-upcoming Doctor Who content including the removal of a pre-recorded video from the Doctor Who: Time Fracture immersive experience, the shelving of a completed Torchwood audiobook and a Big Finish comic.
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Recasting has never been an issue with Doctor Who, after all the main character is recast every few years with “regeneration” being the in-universe excuse and while Harkness doesn’t possess this ability, it can be explained using the standard “wibbly wobbly, timey wimey” stuff – or they could avoid it completely and not mention the change of actor.
Would you like to see Jonathan Groff take over as Captain Jack Harkness, or would you prefer him to play someone else?
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