“He’s making a meal of it”: Matt Smith’s Legacy-Making Role as Doctor Who Gets Called Into Question Over His Villainous Career Arc After Actor Made a Misstep With Morbius
- Matt Smith is widely known for his portrayal of Doctor Who in the eponymous BBC TV series.
- Smith's evolution into playing dark and sinister characters has fans wondering if Doctor Who is the unconventional role for him.
- He once revealed why he portrayed Lucien in the critical and commercial failure Morbius.
Matt Smith is currently making headlines for his role as Daemon Targaryen in the Game of Thrones spin-off prequel series House of the Dragon. However, he rose to fame after landing the role of the eleventh Doctor Who in the legendary TV series.
Although he was an unknown face when he first started playing the Doctor, that does not seem to be the case anymore. Following his departure from the series, he has portrayed several characters over the years. Interestingly, a majority of these characters have seen him riding a villainous arc, which is now putting his role as Doctor Who in question.
Matt Smith Portraying Doctor Who Was a Far-cry from a Majority of the Roles He Has Played in His Career
For someone who only began acting professionally because a health issue prevented him from becoming a professional footballer, Matt Smith has certainly come a long way. His first major role came in the 2007 BBC drama series Party Animals. However, he did not gain stardom until 2010 when he made his debut as Doctor Who.
Smith portrayed Patrick Bateman in the theatre adaptation of American Psycho. That set him off on a career arc that mostly consists of him playing dark, malevolent, or morally ambiguous roles. Some of the earliest examples of this is his role as a physical embodiment of Skynet in Terminator Genisys, and as Prince Charles in the hit Netflix series The Crown.
Recently, a fan on X has pointed out as much. He stated that looking at Smith’s career from this perspective, it seems less likely for the actor to play a heroic character like Doctor Who.
Some other fans even seemed to agree with his opinion. Here is what they have said:
Some fans have also mentioned that Smith’s Doctor Who also had some dark and sinister undertones, so the role was not very different from what he has done so many times. That said, he seemed to have made a glaring mistake by choosing to portray Milo in 2022’s box-office bomb Morbius.
Matt Smith on Why He Chose to Star in Morbius
Smith undoubtedly has an extensive portfolio of phenomenal performances. Morbius stands as a blemish on that portfolio since it not only performed poorly at the box office, but also garnered five Golden Raspberry Awards nominations including that for Worst Picture.
Speaking to Screen Rant prior to the film’s theatrical release, Smith explained why he was interested in the role of the antagonist Lucien.
I’ve always been obsessed with vampire films, frankly, and the mythical power of them. The idea that this was a superhero monster movie, I was really interested in. Great director, really fabulous cast attached to it, and I was interested in the idea of being able to fly and kill people. All that sort of stuff.
Although his co-stars Jared Leto and Adria Arjona won Golden Raspberry Awards for their poor performances, Smith made out of it unscathed, which proved that he gave his best even in that movie.
