Doctor Who showrunner was offered mysterious Marvel show

Doctor Who’s Russell T Davies reveals that Marvel invited him to serve as showrunner on a secret TV project set in the UK.

Davies is a logical candidate for one of Marvel’s small-screen gigs, given his stellar track record with genre fare on TV. Not only did he spearhead the first five years of the hugely successful Doctor Who revival, but he also created spinoffs Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures (co-showrunning the former).

In a sign of just how esteemed Davies’ tenure as Doctor Who showrunner was, the BBC has brought him back to oversee the franchise’s upcoming 60th anniversary specials, as well as its next full season. Aside from Doctor Who, Davies has also garnered considerable acclaim for other TV productions such as Queer as Folk, Bob & Rose, The Second Coming, Casanova, A Very English Scandal, and Nolly.

All of the above would’ve no doubt made Davies an attractive prospect to Marvel – but the Welsh scribe’s apparent affection for Marvel’s characters probably didn’t hurt, either. Davies supposedly named Torchwood protagonist Captain Jack Harkness after the Scarlet Witch’s mentor Agatha Harkness, who was portrayed by Kathryn Hahn in 2021’s WandaVision.

Doctor Who showrunner was offered a Marvel show

The admiration Davies feels for Marvel is apparently mutual if recent comments by the showrunner are anything to go by. In a recent interview with SFX, Davies confirmed that Marvel once tried to recruit him to run one of its TV shows. “I got asked to showrun a British Marvel show,” he recalled. “But [they said] ‘We can’t tell you what it is.'”

“To this day, I watch [Marvel’s shows] and I can’t work out which show that was going to be,” he continued. “Obviously planning to make a British Marvel show that I haven’t seen. Has that happened?” As Davies noted correctly, Marvel has yet to release a UK-focused streaming series or special, although Moon Knight, Secret Invasion, and Loki Season 2 are all partly set in London. Even so, it’s impossible to say for certain whether Davies was in the running for one of these shows, or something else entirely.

It’s likewise unclear whether Davies’ discussions were with Marvel Studios or the now-defunct Marvel Television. If the latter, there’s an ever greater chance that the project offered to Davies was ultimately abandoned. Again, this remains pure speculation until Marvel publicly comments on the matter.

Russell T Davies is planning Doctor Who Seasons 3 and 4

One thing is clear, though: Marvel won’t get another chance to enlist Davies’ services for the foreseeable future. The showrunner is currently hard at work on Doctor Who Series 14 / Season 1 and is on the record regarding his plans to steer the franchise for at least another three seasons.

Ironically, Davies has also started to realize his vision for a more Marvel Cinematic Universe-inspired approach to the Doctor Who franchise, launching the first of several planned spinoffs, Tales of the TARDIS, on November 1. Other Doctor Who side projects in development include a show focused around the fictional military organization UNIT, headlined by Jemma Redgrave’s Kate Lethbridge-Stewart.

Eager to stay up-to-date on the latest Doctor Who installments? Check out our guide on where to stream every episode of the series.