Entertainment minute: Capaldi says farewell to ‘Doctor Who’ fans, Kirkman hints ‘huge event’ in ‘Walking Dead’ universe at New York Comic-Con

NEW YORK (UPI) — Scottish actor Peter Capaldi says a fateful trip to his favorite suit shop led to his discovery that a woman would be taking over his role in Doctor Who.

Capaldi announced this year he is leaving the show after three seasons. His final appearance will be in the 2017 Doctor Who Christmas special. The BBC announced in July he would be replaced by Jodie Whittaker, who is the first woman to play the titular time-traveler.

“It was kept very secret. I didn’t know anything about it,” Capaldi told fans with a laugh at New York Comic-Con Friday.

The actor said he had an inkling about the casting when he went shopping for suits and was told by a store employee: “We just got a call from the Doctor Who office, saying, ‘Can we have a pair of your trousers, but with a waist size 30?'”

He continued: “So, they were obviously looking for a pair of trousers for the new Doctor Who to wear and I thought, ‘Well, that can’t really be a man, with a 30 inch waist.’ So, I thought, ‘It must be a lady then.’ And then they just called me a couple of days later before it was announced. Then I called Jodie and it was lovely to talk to her. She just lives up the road from me.”

Capaldi said even though they are neighbors he hadn’t met her in person until recently.

“She said, ‘We’ve sat in the same cafes and coffee bars for the last three months.’ And she said, ‘I haven’t been able to come and say hello to you because the reason I’d be coming to say hello to you is to say I’m the new Doctor Who,'” Capaldi recalled. “She’s amazing and I saw what she’s done and it’s great, so it’s in really good hands.”

After the question-and-answer session at the Theater at Madison Square Garden, a video of fans telling Capaldi how much they love and will miss him was screened.

Visibly moved by the film and the standing ovation it inspired, Capaldi addressed the audience, saying: “Thank you all. You are so nice and so kind and so goodhearted. You are the future and Jodie Whittaker is so lucky and so are you. This enthusiasm, kindness and generosity is the best thing about the human race. That’s what you are. Thank you.”

The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman says fans can expect to see the first character crossover between that show and its spinoff Fear the Walking Dead some time in the near future.

“There are two Walking Dead shows. I’m not going to name them, but there are two. There is one character that is going to go from one show that I will not name and appear in the other show, which I will not name,” Kirkman told the crowd at New York Comic-Con Saturday night.

“What does that mean?” he teased. “Because these timelines, like, how does that work? Are we going to see an interesting back story of a Walking Dead character, showing up on Fear the Walking Dead? … Or are we going to see a Fear the Walking Dead character show up on Walking Dead and see a future version of a character? What could happen? Is it going to be completely different than that. … This is a huge event in the world of The Walking Dead. We are very excited about this and there is going to more news on this front in the coming months, so please stay tuned to what they call the Internet or the papers and you will find out more about this stuff, but it’s going to be huge. We are all very excited.” .

Season 3 of Fear the Walking Dead — which is set in California and Mexico shortly after a zombie apocalypse — is airing now on AMC. Season 8 of The Walking Dead — which takes place in the American Southeast several years after civilization began to crumble — kicks off on Oct. 22.

Both articles written by UPI entertainment writer Karen Butler.

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