This is nothing but blame-shifting bullshit by the new boss. Blaming Gatwa for “never fully embracing the role?” Are you fucking kidding me? First of all, he’s the only one who actually committed to the Christmas special. All the other actors were just a soft “maybe“. And, maybe if he got more than 5 seconds of screen time every episode, he might’ve had a chance. But, instead, every episode was about the 30 companions they decided to saddle him with and their ridiculously convoluted subplots. No wonder ratings tanked.
Blaming Gatwa for “never fully embracing the role?”
I think that’s an injection of editorialization by the publication, not something that can be attributed to Brittin.
Though the claim does have its origins with an “inside source”, which may or may not be accurate.
Yeah, I read that. Not being a “brand ambassador“? And who the fuck was he supposed to be a brand ambassador for, exactly? The show? The BBC? Disney+?
Smith and tenant had a solid ship with a solid direction to be a “brand ambassador” for. What Gatwa got was a rudderless ship amid unprecedented turmoil, the impossible expectations of transforming the show into an American breakout hit, and with a promise of nothing but uncertainty about its future. What the hell was he supposed to do, exactly?
More blame shifting bullshit, and Gatwa deserved a hell of a lot better than that. He did the best with the pile of shit that he got. The blame for this Titanic mess lies with the executives who made it. Not with the actors who did the best they could to deal with it.
I totally agree that Gatwa deserves better.
I think reports of the show’s “badness” are a tad overblown, and we got exactly what we should have expected when they announced RTD’s return, but that’s both in the eye of the beholder and hardly a robust defense.
I really put the blame mostly on Disney for scooping up a beloved legacy IP that they didn’t really understand and expecting far far far more from it than it was ever gonna deliver, treating it like shit when they didn’t get what they wanted, and then unceremoniously dumping it like it was some meaningless piece of trash— and when millions of fans cry foul, demanding answers, they point to NDAs and make sure even the BBC blames anyone else but them.
But I also place blame of those running the BBC who made the decision to partner with Disney in the first place. Disney is famous for this sort of bastardly bullshit, and it was never gonna end well. They damn well should’ve known better, but all they saw was dollar signs.
