Doctor Who will say goodbye to both star Jodie Whittaker and showrunner Chris Chibnall following Season 13 and a few specials, which means the hunt is on for the next faces to lead the series. One surprising person who helped write Thor and created Babylon 5 has surfaced as an interested party to lead the show into its next era. Could J. Michael Straczynski be the next showrunner of the series?
J. Michael Straczynski was tagged on Twitter by a fan who openly wondered if Straczynski would be a good choice for the show and the Babylon 5 creator wasted no time responding. Should the BBC wish to bring him on as the next showrunner of Doctor Who, Straczynski confirmed he's available.
I don't know if the BBC would ever consider an American to show-run #DoctorWho, but if so, I would be there in a heartbeat. (Well, technically two heartbeats, since two hearts....)
J. Michael Straczynski has numerous credits that make him worthy of leading Doctor Who. He helped write the story for the Thor movie and has written comics for several Marvel and DC characters. He also created Babylon 5, co-created Sense8, and has written for other prominent science fiction fixtures like The Twilight Zone. He's obviously well-qualified to take on a season or more of Doctor Who, and probably would do a good job at it.
Whether or not J. Michael Straczynski would ever even get a chance to interview for the job is another story entirely. Noted horror writer and son of Stephen King Joe Hill revealed (via The Horror Show) he pitched a couple of ideas to write for the show some time ago, only to get a pretty scathing rejection in response. According to the rejection, no American has written for Doctor Who in the franchise's history, so regardless of how many accolades Straczynski may have, the fact he wasn't born in the U.K. may make it all null and void.
With that being said, BBC showed it wasn't afraid to try new things when it let Chris Chibnall cast Doctor Who's first female Doctor and do a soft reboot of the series. The program has been a television staple overseas for some time now, but stagnation or lack of interest from viewers could lead to it being canceled yet again. Perhaps the time has come to let someone from across the pond take a crack at the series and see if they can't pull in audiences once again?
We can only wait and see who Doctor Who will choose for its next showrunner and Doctor. For more on the latter, read up on what actors have been rumored to replace Jodie Whittaker so far, as well as the chances of that actually happening.
