The Doctor Who Christmas special is a highlight of every holiday season, whether it's a cheery reimagining of Charles Dickens or a farewell tour for a departing Doctor. The Twelfth Doctor is currently short a companion after Clara left the TARDIS at the end of Season 9. This year's Christmas special promises to be different from all those that came before thanks to the addition of a brand new character who will mix things up. Canadian actor Justin Chatwin has been cast as a superhero for the 2016 Doctor Who Christmas special.
Justin Chatwin will join Doctor Who as a guest star in the series' final episode of 2016. His character has been described as having the qualities of a superhero. Sources indicate that Chatwin will use an American accent to play a boldly assertive hero who will have a few not-so-super secrets to conceal. He will not join the Doctor as a Christmas special companion, however.
The Doctor's partner for the special will instead be none other than Nardole, who debuted in the 2015 Christmas special as a former employee of River Song who ended up sharing custody of a robot body with River's former husband. Matt Lucas definitely doesn't give off a superhero vibe as Nardole, so it should be fun to see him interact with Justin Chatwin's brash character. The Doctor will likely have his hands full with the cyborg and the superhero this holiday season.
No details have yet been released about whether or not this superhero will have anything in the way of superpowers. The Doctor has certainly faced stranger things in his hundreds of years of life so far, but he and the new character could be fun foils in the 2016 Christmas episode. Justin Chatwin certainly has a long enough resume that he should be able to keep up with Peter Capaldi. The 33-year old actor made his big showbiz break in 2005 as Tom Cruise's son in War of the Worlds. Chatwin followed that up in 2009 as the lead in Dragonball Evolution, which was unfortunately panned by just about everybody. He then switched to primarily working on television.
The last five years have seen Justin Chatwin land roles in Shameless, Orphan Black, and most recently American Gothic on CBS. He's played a variety of characters during his career, so hopefully he'll have what it takes to handle anything that Doctor Who throws his way as the Christmas superhero. Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat has revealed to RadioTimes that the episode will be a smart and emotional romp through time and space, so fans should have an exciting adventure in this year's holiday installment.
We still have a few months before we'll be able to see Justin Chatwin make his Doctor Who debut. Check out our fall TV premiere schedule to see what you can watch on the small screen in the meantime.
