Sci-Fi Storm

Maisie Williams, who plays the diminutive but fiery Arya Stark on Game of Thrones, will guest star on the upcoming season of Doctor Who. The award-winning actress went straight from a U.S. tour to the TARDIS to film her guest role.

“I’m so excited to be working on Doctor Who as it’s such a big and important part of British Culture,” Williams said. “I can’t wait to meet the cast and crew and start filming, especially as we’ll be shooting not too far from my home town.”

“We’re thrilled to have Maisie Williams joining us on Doctor Who,” Producer Steven Moffat added. “It’s not possible to say too much about who or what she’s playing, but she is going to challenge the Doctor in very unexpected ways. This time he might just be out of his depth, and we know Maisie is going to give him exactly the right sort of hell.”

Hmm…I’m not really sure the Doctor is up to dealing with a teenager…especially one who carries Needle…

Despite the seemingly mixed chatter regarding Peter Capaldi’s rendition of the Doctor, or the chemistry between him and Jenna Coleman’s Clara, or the complex, confusing plots, Series 8 of Doctor Who proved to be the best yet for BBC America, culminating in a Christmas episode that was the #1 non-sports program in its time slot, but was more than double Matt Smith’s first Christmas episode, at 2.31 million viewers. Overall, Series 8 delivered a little over 2 million viewers on average on Live+3 ratings.

This just looks like a fun episode…
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Seems some of the doom prognosticators clamoring over Doctor Who getting old may have missed the mark (although we’ll see with Episode 2 numbers next week). In the UK, it scored 6.79M/32.5 share in the overnight ratings, which means nearly 1/3rd of all TV sets in use in the UK were tuned to BBC One for the Series 8 debut of Peter Capaldi, “Deep Breath”. This made it the most watch Who opener since 2010.

In the U.S. the numbers may not seem as spectacular, with 2.2M viewers, but it was a significant increase over the Series 7 opener at 1.56M, and the Series 8 opener is now the most watch Doctor Who series opener of all time for BBC America. In addition, with the debut of Intruders afterwards, it is in fact the most watched Saturday night of all time for the channel.

The U.K. tabloid The Mirror is reporting that a source inside the Doctor Who production says that Jenna-Louise Coleman, who plays current companion Clara Oswald, will depart the show with this year’s Christmas episode. “The conversations about Jenna’s exit have started, and a plan is in place which is being ironed out,” according to the source.

Keep in mind this is only being reported by The Mirror, so I’d treat it as a moderate rumor right now. But despite the love shown for Coleman, we would not be surprised if it is true. Jenna will have officially been on the show for nearly two full series, plus the special episodes bridging Matt Smith to Peter Capaldi, which gives here a fair amount of time on the show. But it is rare for a companion to span much beyond a Doctor’s regeneration – notable exceptions were Billy Piper’s Rose, who did two full series (and some guest episodes) between Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant, and of course Elisabeth Sladen’s Sarah Jane Smith, who worked several series between Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker.

What does cast some doubt is the source saying, “By the time she leaves she will be one of the longest-standing companions ever.” That really isn’t true by any measure I can think of, considering the leader of the current run of the series is Karan Gillan with two and a half series, plus Sladen and some other companions in the classic series lasted longer.

Now, if you want to debate cutest companions, I agree she’s near the top of the list…

The Nerdist host Chris Hardwick will be doing two live specials on BBC America on August 23rd for the premiere of Doctor Who Series 8…the first will be Doctor Who: Live Pre-Show, starting at 7:30pm ET, right before the premiere which airs at 8:00pm ET, and then Doctor Who: After Who Live will start at 11:00pm ET, after the BBC America premiere of the new show Intruders. No details on guests except writer/director/actor Mark Gatiss is expected to attend.

Hmm…that voice seems familiar…and not quite Dalek…
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The 8th series of Doctor Who returns with new Doctor Peter Capaldi starting on August 23rd, on BBC One in the UK and BBC America in the US! Airtimes to be announced later.
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We didn’t know a lot about the upcoming Netflix series Sense8, from Andy and Lana Wachowski with J. Michael Straczynski, but now we know who will be in it, and a bit more on what it is about.

According to Deadline, the international cast includes U.S. actors Daryl Hannah (Splash, Kill Bill Vols. I and II), Brian J. Smith (Stargate Universe) and Terrence Mann (The Dresden Files); British actors Naveen Andrews (Lost, Sinbad, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland), Freema Agyeman (Doctor Who, Torchwood), Tuppence Middleton (Sinbad, Trance), and Aml Ameen (Lee Daniels’ The Butler, Harry’s Law); Mexican actors Alfonso Herrera and Erendira Ibarra; Indian actress Tena Desae (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel); South Korean actress Doona Bae (Cloud Atlas); and German actor Max Riemelt (The Wave), along with Jamie Clayton and Miguel Silvestri.

“The series follows eight characters around the world who, in the aftermath of a tragic death, find themselves linked to each other mentally and emotionally,” co-showrunner J. Michael Straczynski told Deadline. “They can not only see and talk to each other as though they were in the same place, they have access to each other’s deepest secrets. Not only must they figure out what happened and why and what it means for the future of humanity, they must do so netflix-logowhile being hunted by an organization out to capture, kill or vivisect them.”