Former Doctor Who star David Tennant is coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and he’ll be doing it all covered in purple.
The Scottish actor will be joining the cast of AKA Jessica Jones, the second Marvel-Netflix series after Daredevil debuts in April, as Kilgrave. Kilgrave aka Zebediah Killgrave aka The Purple Man is described as an enigmatic figure from Jessica’s past whose reappearance will “send shockwaves” through her world.
Tennant will be the main antagonist of a series that’s already netted Krysten Ritter (Breaking Bad) as Jones and Mike Colter (Criminal Minds) as Luke Cage.
Showrunner Melissa Rosenberg had this to say:
I’m so honored and excited by the prospect of David inhabiting this multifaceted character. He can deliver the most heart-wrenching moment to the driest of lines, and all points in between. He’ll make Kilgrave a truly original villain.
While this is an exciting casting announcement, and makes for the fourth big BBC star to join the MCU after Benedict Cumberbatch was cast as Doctor Strange, Karen Gillan as Nebula in Guardians of the Galaxy and Christopher Eccleston played (and was wasted as) Malekith in Thor: The Dark World, I’m hopeful Tennant will either be allowed to keep his Scottish accent or really master a Serbo-Croation one in a way that’s better than his attempt at an American accent in Gracepoint.
AKA Jessica Jones will debut in 2015.
Nice. I think he will be an amazing Purple Man.
OH WOW! totally unexpected casting, can’t wait to see what he does with the role….