By Huw Fullerton

Published: Thursday, 14 October 2021 at 12:00 am

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Longtime Doctor Who fan Jacob Anderson finally nabbed his dream role for the upcoming series 13 (aka Doctor Who: Flux) – but it wasn’t the first time the ex-Game of Thrones star made a bid to join the TARDIS team.

Rather, in a new interview he’s revealed that he first took a swing at the job back in 2009, when he auditioned to play a key part of Matt Smith’s ensemble.

“I did actually audition for Doctor Who a long time ago,” Anderson told Doctor Who Magazine. “I auditioned for Rory.

“I was definitely too young, and Arthur Darvill is amazing. I’ve worked with him since [on Broadchurch], and he’s a lovely man. So I’m glad that he did it.”

In the end, of course, the role of nurse-turned-centurion Rory went to Darvill, who appeared regularly from 2010-2012 alongside Smith and onscreen partner Gillan, before the “Ponds” departed in The Angels Take Manhattan.

In the pantheon of classic Doctor Who casting What-Ifs it’s an intriguing one – imagine if for all this time, we’d had Anderson paired with Gillan’s Amy Pond instead – but Anderson doesn’t seem too disappointed to have missed out back then. Or at least, finally landing his dream job has rubbed out those bad memories.

“This is the one thing I always wanted to do,” he said.

“I used to think, ‘I’ll do anything, I’ll wear prosthetics, whatever… I just want to be part of Doctor Who!’ It has such an ingrained place in my brain, and in my history, for a multitude of reasons.”

Now, at last, it also has an ingrained place on his IMDB page. Dreams do come true, kids.

The new issue of Doctor Who Magazine is on sale now.

Chris Chibnall, Jodie Whittaker, Mandip Gill, John Bishop and Jacob Anderson preview Series 13!

DWM 570 also includes 4 exclusive art cards, a @bigfinish download code, TARDIS diorama, a 28-page supplement magazine on the making of Series 12, and much more!

On sale 14 October. pic.twitter.com/u9jUFEcuh8

— Doctor Who Magazine (@DWMtweets) October 12, 2021