Doctor Who: 10 Actors Who Almost Played Different Characters
6. Michelle Gomez
Who She Almost Played: Ms Delphox
Who She Actually Played: Missy
Throughout Peter Capaldi's tenure as the Twelfth Doctor, Michelle Gomez stole the show every single time she popped up as Missy, a female incarnation of the Master.
Wicked, funny, dangerous, and unpredictable, she was an absolute delight to watch, so it's actually quite distressing to learn that she nearly didn't play the part at all.
This is because Gomez was initially in the running for Ms Delphox, head of security at the Karabraxos Bank in the 2014 episode Time Heist. However, Gomez was unavailable at the time, which is a huge relief, because if she had auditioned, she'd almost certainly have won the role.
Gomez told The Radio Times that she was actually quite sad about missing out on Time Heist, and in fact, she was so determined to appear in Doctor Who that she wrote to then-showrunner Steven Moffat, asking to be considered for a "razor-cheek-boned villainess" at some point in the future. Good call.