‘Doctor Who’: Steven Moffat Opens Up About Season 8
Speaking at a Royal Television Society event, Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat opened up about the show’s recently concluded eighth season, while revealing that work has already begun on Season 9.
As Den of Geek reports, Moffat held a 90-minute Q&A session during the RTS Anatomy of a Hit: Doctor Who event, touching on a number of topics related to the recently concluded season, including his favorite scene, the necessity of keeping production secrets, and his decision to return the Master to the program, regenerated as Missy.
As each panel member chose their favorite scene from Season 8, Moffat singled out the moment in “Dark Water” between the Doctor and Clara after their interaction next to the volcano. Saying he rarely takes pride in anything he writes, Moffat allowed that he was proud of a line the Doctor delivered during that scene, as he asked Clara, “Do you think I care for you so little that betraying me would make a difference?”
My favorite line from Season 8 of #DoctorWho. I think there’s a homily in there somewhere. pic.twitter.com/OsxzDH1HCv
— Pius Pietrzyk (@PiusOP) November 14, 2014
“He’s surprised he has to say it,” Moffat observed. “That’s the truth about him, he says lots of horrible things all the time, that’s because he assumes all the other stuff is taken for granted and it’s only in that moment Clara realizes just how much he’s assuming is taken for granted, absolute monomaniacal devotion to her. He absolutely loves her.”
Moffat also allowed that he had to lie about the return of the Master to keep the season ending a secret, while noting that he didn’t blame Doctor Who fans for watching early versions of the season’s first few episodes, which leaked online ahead of their release.
“To be honest, I don’t blame the guys who went and looked, cos I would’ve,” he said. “I would’ve as a fan. It would have ruined it for me but a new Doctor? I’d have had to go and have a look.”
Michelle Gomez has said that Missy will return to #DoctorWho next year for Series 9 – http://t.co/MPnHMzedat pic.twitter.com/xiIoE6ASPC
— Doctor Who 24/7 (@DrWho247) November 13, 2014
Executive producer Brian Minchin also said at the event that the Doctor Who production team began planning Season 9 the Monday after they finished filming Season 8, the Hollywood Reporter notes. A season of Doctor Who usually takes 18 months to put together, though fans won’t have to wait quite that long to see Peter Capaldi back in action. The teaser for the Doctor Who Christmas special was recently released, appended to the Season 8 finale, as the Inquisitr noted.
When asked if the Doctor would ever run out of regenerations, Moffat was succinct, observing that such a limit was never going to get in the way of the show.
“To be honest with you, so long as ‘Doctor Who’ is a success – which it’s going to be forever – the Doctor will successfully regenerate,” he said.
[Image via Den of Geek]
