10 Doctor Who Actors Who Almost Played Different Characters

8. Timothy Dalton

All our next entry had to do was pop up on our screens and shout, "For the end of time itself!" and he single handedly managed to tear the entire stratosphere of the fandom in half. He was a Time Lord, though, so he was always going to create an unprecedented stir, not only because his appearance dropped an almighty bombshell on what was already shaping up to be one of the most climactic stories in Doctor Who history... and then some. It would've taken a true industry icon to steal the spotlight from David Tennant in his final story and Timothy Dalton came pretty close to doing it. The veteran actor is no stranger to formidable franchises having portrayed the mighty 007, James Bond, back in the 1980s. Before he was enlisted as Rassilon, Lord President of Gallifrey, though, he had previously been put forward for the role of another prestigious Time Lord... the titular Time Lord himself. Timothy auditioned to play the Eighth Doctor for Fox's proposed US reboot of the series back in the 90s and, when those plans fell through, he became a frontrunner for the role of the Doctor's arch nemesis, the Master, instead. Suffice to say, he lost out in both departments, but he's proof that you just can't keep a worthy Time Lord down...