When it was announced that veteran actor John Hurt would star in the 50th Anniversary, it was doubtful that out of all the roles he could have played nobody expected him to play The Doctor. Originally appearing in the final seconds of "The Name Of The Doctor" it was soon established that there existed a secret regeneration between the 8th and 9th Doctors who was disowned the title of "Doctor" by his later regenerations all for causing the destruction of Gallifrey and the Daleks in order to put an end to the Last Great Time War. Someone who could commit such genocide could never wear the title "Doctor" and thus the Time Lord who became known as the War Doctor was born. Learning that not only is there a past Doctor who was the Doctor that fought in the Time War as opposed to the previously assumed 8th Doctor, was a great surprise. The fact that such an iconic actor like John Hurt got to bring this new Doctor to life was unexpected and left fans on edge in the months between The Name of The Doctor and The Day of The Doctor. This addition to the Doctor Who canon is what also led to the reveal that the 11th Doctor was actually on his last regeneration of the allowed 13, playing a huge role in the finale for the 11th Doctor. Steve Moffat believed that the 8th Doctor wasn't grizzled enough for the Time War and the 9th Doctor was too fresh to have been involved, so the creation of the War Doctor led to a great performance by John Hurt and a long lasting development to the history of Doctor Who as a whole.
Freelance writer and podcaster from Long Island,New York. Recent college graduate with a BA in Writing. Movie-buff who continues to write his own screenplays and has a passion for Quentin Tarantino movies, Doctor Who, and Radiohead. Loves to write, all about getting the exposure online and finding ways to tell his story.
