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Peter Jackson Announces He Will Direct DOCTOR WHO

Director Peter Jackson has really taken to this whole Facebook thing like a hungry hobbit to an all-you-can-eat Lembas bread buffet. He always seems to be posting exclusive videos and behind-the-scenes nuggets for fans of his J.R.R. Tolkien films and the like. Because he’s the creative sort, he also has taken to using it to make announcements in a much cleverer way than a simple press release. Laterly, there has been a lot of talk about Mr. Jackson possibly directing an episode of Doctor Who. Naturally, he’s a big fan of the show (as all human beings should be), but it didn’t end up happening in series 9… but this most recent video, posted overnight on Jackson’s Facebook page, seems to say it’ll happen next year. Kudos to Jackson and his daughter for their excellent one-take acting.

Soooo, that’s pretty definitive no? First of all, super exciting that Jackson is going to direct next year (presumably). Maybe this’ll hearken back to his low-budget horror movie roots, which we see glimpses of in the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films, but hasn’t really been on display for quite a long time. Secondly, who better to courier the contract from the BBC than the Doctor himself, Peter Capaldi? That, to me, says this isn’t just some director saying again he wants to direct; this is official.

The best exchange ever:

“I’m the Doctor.”
“Who?”
“…Correct.”

This is, of course, just an announcement, and we have no idea when the next series will even film, but it’s extremely exciting. While the series has had high-profile guest writers, like Neil Gaiman and Richard Curtis, but besides indie-horror director Ben Wheatley in series 8, it’s never had a big-name guest director, especially one who can spend an evening polishing their Oscars.

Also… on the table is a copy of The Silmarillion with a bunch of pages marked…whaaaaaaaaat?!?!?

What do you hope for a Peter Jackson-directed Doctor Who episode?

Kyle Anderson is the Weekend Editor, a film and TV critic, and the resident Whovian for Nerdist.com. Follow him on Twitter!

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