Jonathan Groff Lands Big TV Role After 'Mindhunter' Official Cancellation
Fans are still mourning after the cancellation of Mindhunter, but star Jonathan Groff seems to have landed on his feet. The BBC announced that Groff is joining the cast of Doctor Who in the upcoming season, premiering at the end of this year. His role has not been revealed yet, but the network calls it "mysterious and exciting."
Groff played the starring role as FBI agent Holden Ford in Mindhunter, a psychological crime thriller that got two seasons on Netflix. He is also known for playing Jessie on Glee, Eric in Knock at the Cabin Door and the new Agent Smith in The Matrix Resurrections, not to mention his iconic Broadway role as King George III in Hamilton, including the version streaming on Disney+. Now, Groff will add another legendary franchise to his resume when he joins the cast of Doctor Who. He will star alongside the Fifteenth Doctor Ncuti Gatwa, who is set to make his debut at the end of 2023.
"I am so thrilled to jump into the extraordinary mind of Russell T. Davies and watch the incredible Ncuti Gatwa soar in this iconic role!" Groff said in a statement included with the BBC's press release. Showrunner Russel T. Davies added, "This is an incredible coup, and a great honor, to get such a huge star striding on to our set. So strap on your space boots, this is going to be a blast!"
The timing of Gatwa and Groff's debut is still uncertain. The BBC has announced a series of three Doctor Who specials airing in November which will star David Tennant reprising his role as the Thirteenth Doctor. Gatwa's season will premiere during the "festive period" of 2023 – presumably referring to the holiday season. After that, the season will continue in 2024. Disney+ will have new episodes of the sci-fi procedural streaming outside of the U.K.
Groff won the hearts of a lot of new fans with his role in Mindhunter, which aired one season in 2017 and another in 2019. The series was based on the 1995 true-crime book Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit by John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker. The series was created for TV by Joe Penhall and also starred Holt McCallany, Anna Torv, Hannah Gross, Cotter Smith, Stacey Roca, Michael Cerveris, Lauren Glazier, Albert Jones, Sierra McClain, and June Carryl. The show was not formally canceled, but in February executive producer David Fincher confirmed that it was over for good. Many fans are still hoping for some kind of revival.