Justin Chatwin Talks Suiting Up as a Superhero in ‘Doctor Who: The Return of Doctor Mysterio‘

Doctor Who’s time-and-space traveling hero is no stranger to comic books, having appeared in various Who comics stretching all the way back to the 1960s. But his television counterpart has never really required the assistance of a costumed avenger … that is, until now. The latest Doctor Who Christmas special, “The Return of Doctor Mysterio,” which premieres Dec. 25 on BBC America, teams up the Twelfth Doctor (Peter Capaldi) with a dashing caped crusader named the Ghost, in order to defeat a race of alien invaders.

So who is this masked man? Why, it’s none other than Justin Chatwin, the Canadian-born star of Shameless and Weeds, now making his British television debut as a distinctly American superhero. And the actor tells Yahoo TV that a trip across the pond to Cardiff, Wales — the longtime headquarters of Doctor Who — was one of the chief reasons the role appealed to him. “Not many Canadian actors, or American actors for that matter, get the chance to work in British TV. This was one of the best crews I ever worked with. They’re so proud of what they do, and it’s always nice to work on a show that people are proud of,” he says. “I didn’t know how big of a production this was until I got to Cardiff! We were shooting one scene in a museum, and there was a giant crowd.”

The size of Doctor Who’s hometown fanbase wasn’t the only thing that Chatwin learned during his stint as the Doctor’s superhero sidekick. The entire experience was a crash course in all things Who for a newbie Whovian who freely admits that he’d never watched an episode of the long-running series before accepting the role. “I didn’t even know what the TARDIS was,” he says, laughing. “I was like, ‘He flies around in a telephone booth?’ So I had to ask a bunch of stuff [on set], but the director, Ed Bazalgette, filled me in.”

Additional assistance was provided by writer and outgoing Who showrunner Steven Moffat, who is stepping away from the series at the end of its 10th season “in the modern era,” as BBC America puts it, which premieres in 2017. “Steven’s script was the best piece of writing I had read all year,” Chatwin raves. “I had also seen Sherlock, and that was supertight. A lot of [my preparation] was just Ed and Steven telling me what they’d be excited to see with this character, and then me coming in and doing what they wanted me to do. It was a very fun experience.”

Chatwin may not have had any exposure to Doctor Who prior to “Doctor Mysterio,” but he’s been a lifelong student of comic book movies, pointing to Michael Keaton’s Batman and Christopher Reeve’s Superman as his two favorite big-screen superheroes. “I used to have my marathons of the Superman movies with my father,” he says. “It’s funny watching them again after seeing all the technology we have now. And the first film doesn’t even really have any fight scenes, except when he pushes a guy up against a wall! But Christopher Reeve is still quite charming, and that’s more important than the special effects.”

It’s no accident, then, that the Ghost — as well as his gawky alter ego, Grant Gordon — is clearly modeled on Reeve’s dual turn as Superman and Clark Kent, right down to the dorky glasses Grant wears when he’s not in his Ghost get-up. And one of the special’s best scenes — in which Grant has a dinner date with his crush, intrepid reporter Lucy Fletcher (Charity Wakefield), while dressed as her crush, the Ghost — directly echoes Superman’s rooftop meal with Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) from the original Superman film.

Besides the Man of Steel, Chatwin also points to Tobey Maguire’s performance in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy as an inspiration. “There’s a sweet quality to my character, and Tobey brought a sweet quality to Peter Parker as well,” he says. “I always thought of Grant as being a daffodil. He doesn’t have the courage to say what he means, so he creates another persona to do everything he can’t.”

With the Ghost’s maiden flight behind him, there’s always the chance that he’ll return for a future Doctor Who adventure, although Chatwin has his eyes on a bigger role. “They said, ‘You’re going to come back as the Doctor,” he jokes, knowing full well that’s the perfect way to get the rumor mill churning. In the meantime, he’s planning to finally do a deep dive into the Time Lord’s TV archive: “I probably will watch more episodes, for sure.”

“Doctor Who: The Return of Doctor Mysterio” premieres Dec. 25 at 9 p.m. on BBC America.