We’re only days away from the great ruddy blue box flying down into our living rooms (or cinemas) and delighting us with a brand new face. As Peter Capaldi soars into position of our favourite characters, we cannot contain ourselves with all the adventures and enemies that he and companion Clara will face. There is one foe on our lips that, if brought back, would have us squealing with pleasure: The Master. And it is entirely in the realms of possibilities for The Doctors greatest enemy to come bounding back into our Doctor Who lives. But who would excel in the mantle of The Master?
Inspired by a recent Tumblr post, the introduction of Idris Elba to Doctor Who would be stellar. The impossibly cool actor, who has brought brilliance to our television screens with Luther and bounded impeccably in our films such as Pacific Rim, would add a layer of class to proceedings. Effortlessly, calmly and collectively, Elba would turn the conflict between The Doctor and The Master into a battle of wits and epic one liners that will ooze off this British actors tongue. Elba would inject charisma and coyness to the tortured, yet evil Timelord, leaving us all aquiver with his calculated delivers and fiendish plots.
If you have watched Channel 4’s recent superior series Utopia or Ben Wheatley’s Kill List, you’ll have heard of Maskell. If that name leaves you scratching your head, then I urge you to watch both and get onboard with my idea. While, incidentally, Wheatley has been placed in the Directors chair for Doctor Who’s opening episode, perhaps it will spark the team to cast Maskell as The Master. Maskell will not only bring a different energy that will be more akin to John Simm’s portrayal, but will also add a fresh quality to the character, unseen before. There will be wit and obvious danger as you’ll never know entire what is happening behind Maskell’s eyes. And when you do, it will be pure unadulterated insanity.
On a list of “it’s never going to happen” that serve parallel to “holy shit what if this happened,” American villain extraordinaire Kevin Spacey is just too good an actor to not include in this list. While many may remember his tirades in The Usual Suspects and Seven, Spacey has heightened the world of television with his Netflix original House of Cards. The quiet brutality that this man gives and the intense terror he induces would have everyone squirming with delight. Imagine Spacey, opposite Capaldi delivering one of the most horrifying monologues of all time. This imagined scenario is already sending shivers down my spine.
Right, so, hear me out. There has been a lot of talk on the series about The Doctor going back to old faces. The presence of Capaldi after featuring heavily in The Fires of Pompeii as well as Tom Baker cropping up in The Day of the Doctor has all of us whispering. While the actual answer may never be explored and, true, Capaldi has never played The Doctor before, the idea that The Doctor is regressing to characters he has seen before makes us really excited. Imagine if The Master, in some sick regeneration, transformed into one of The Doctor’s faces? And no one more perfect than Paul McGann. Not only will this bring the short lived actor back to the series, but McGann would play The Master effectively well. It would be such tantalising affair and unmissable too.
This actor’s sheer portfolio of being able to convey different stoic villains makes him a top contender for The Master spot. And it’s not just at the dismay of villains. Nighy, when not stealing every scene in as many comedies as he can muster, can be seen as the powerhouse in supernatural horror movies such as Underworld, I, Frankenstein and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (with tentacles that will rival Dalek Sec.) That unforgettable tone to his voice will be the perfect juxtapose against Capaldi’s. Unnerving and unrelenting, Bill Nighy will be a force to the reckoned with if he became the bloodcurdling Master.
Who would you like to see portray The Master?
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