Joss Whedon was asked whether or not he’d considered writing an episode of Doctor Who during a panel at Nerd HQ 2016, with The Avengers director explaining that he may not be the right man for the job, adding: “Check back with me when The Doctor is a she.”
Whedon noted that he hadn’t watched enough episodes of Doctor Who to be qualified for the role, saying: “I’m not sure, and here’s why… I’d have to do a lot of research. Like watch 40 years of television. I’ve seen some of it, but let’s get real.”
He added: “It would be very daunting to follow in the footsteps of Moffat and the guys.”
He continued: “Check back with me when The Doctor is a she… or Idris Elba,” before jokingly concluding that every sentence should end with the suffix “or Idris Elba.”
There has been heated debate over whether or not the next incarnation of The Doctor should be portrayed by a woman, with showrunner Steven Moffat previously addressing this topic, saying: “You could say that if you made the Doctor female you’d lose a fairly unique rare role model.” However, he added that he disagreed with this notion, adding: “I don’t think the Doctor is the role model of Doctor Who… you can’t really base yourself on the Doctor. He’s off the spectrum, barking mad, from space and has lots of mysterious abilities that we do not. How do you base yourself on that?”
Watch Joss Whedon’s response in the video below:
