Lucifer star Tom Ellis wanted to play Doctor Who

Tom Ellis is known these days as the most debonair version of Satan you’re ever likely to meet. But at one point, he had other ambitions:

Tom Ellis is riding pretty high these days as the star of Lucifer, the show about what happens when Satan gets bored of his duties running Hell and leaves to run a nightclub in LA; when Fox cancelled the show three seasons in, the fan outcry was so loud that Netflix picked it up, and it recently debuted the first half of its fifth season.

So things worked out, but the 41-year-old Welsh actor did at one time have different ambitions. “Back in the day, I would have loved to have had an opportunity to play Doctor Who,” he told Square Mile. “I just never think that ever would have happened. Partly because I’d have done this show – and I just don’t think people thought of me like that.”

Well, it’s hard to say what people thought of him as back then, but nowadays, Ellis is definitely thought of as the hunky Devil who’s really not such a bad guy once you get to know him. I dunno if he had quite the right look to play the Doctor, anyway.

However, Ellis did star in an episode of Doctor Who, as  Thomas Milligan in the season 3 finale “Last Of The Time Lords,” during David Tennant’s tenure as the Tenth Doctor:

“Weirdly, the part of Lucifer, in my own head I’m like, his is my Doctor Who,” Ellis continued. “That’s what it felt like. It’s the character traits, isn’t it? Having the luxury to play such a fulfilling character.”

Like a lot of shows, Lucifer was stalled thanks to the coronavirus, but the back half of season 5 is on the way. After that, the team will start right in on season 6, the last season.

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