Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

First trailer for ‘Doctor Who’ Christmas Special introduces a new (super) hero

By Rick Marshall December 9, 2016

Doctor Who Christmas Special Trailer - Premieres Christmas Night at 9/8c on BBC America

The Christmas episode of Doctor Who has by now become an annual tradition for fans of the highly popular science fiction series, and this year’s special now has its first trailer.

Titled The Return of Doctor Mysterio, the holiday-themed episode has The Doctor (Peter Capaldi) teaming up with an investigative journalist played by Charity Wakefield (Wolf Hall) and a mysterious superhero to save New York City from a dangerous alien. The trailer for the hourlong episode offers a peek at what’s to come when The Doctor — who’s also a superhero, if you think about it — meets a hero of the more traditional cape-and-mask variety.

Written by Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat and directed by Ed Bazalgette (Poldark), “The Return of Doctor Mysterio” also stars Justin Chatwin (Orphan Black, Shameless), Matt Lucas (Alice in Wonderland), Adetomiwa Edun (Lucifer, Bates Motel), Aleksandar Jovanovic (Collide), and Logan Hoffman (V).

This year’s Christmas episode will not only air on December 25 as usual on BBC America, but it will also be presented to the public via a two-night screening in theaters December 27 and 29. The theatrical screenings will be accompanied by some behind-the-scenes features that will not air during the initial broadcast of the episode. More information about the screenings and tickets to the events are being made available at the website for Fathom Events.

As in previous Christmas episodes of Doctor Who, it’s certainly possible that The Return of Doctor Mysterio could set the stage for the events to come in the upcoming season of the long-running series. The next season of Doctor Who is expected to premiere in April 2017.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

A veteran journalist with more than two decades of experience covering local and national news, arts and entertainment, and…

Entertainment

10 villains who need to be introduced to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, ranked

how disney can do the fantastic four justice galactus

Though Marvel Studios has just about finished Phase Four of its cinematic universe, there are still many powerful supervillains that should be introduced in future projects.

There are plenty of evil scientists, ancient demons, and cosmic conquerors that the studio can bring in to face Earth's Mightiest Heroes. In anticipation of the battles to come, here are the villains that need to be introduced to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
10. Dracula

Entertainment

Bowser attacks in The Super Mario Bros. Movie’s first trailer

super mario bros movie first trailer bowser

Nintendo and Illumination Entertainment finally gave us our first glimpse at the animated Mario movie, which is officially titled The Super Mario Bros. Movie. The trailer reveal came during New York Comic Con and got a special Nintendo Direct of its own.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie Nintendo Direct kicks off with an introduction from Shigeru Miyamoto, Chris Meledandri, Chris Pratt, and Jack Black, who confirmed that the animation will be complete next week, although there are still other things to do, and hyped up the trailer. The trailer itself begins with Bowser attacking a city of Penguins before cutting to Mario finding himself in the Mushroom Kingdom and going on an adventure with Toad. We even see a little bit of Luigi at the end.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie | Official Teaser Trailer
Nintendo and Illumination Entertainment -- the Universal Pictures animation studio known for creating Despicable Me, Sing, and The Secret Life of Pets -- first announced a movie based on the iconic Super Mario Bros. video game series in 2018. While series creator Shigeru Miyamoto was a producer on the film from the start and Nintendo acquired a film studio during this movie's production, the announcement that really turned heads was the September 2021 Nintendo Direct, where its shocking all-star cast was revealed.
During its segment in that Direct, we learned that Chris Pratt is Mario, Anya Taylor-Joy is Princess Peach, Charlie Day is Luigi, Keegan-Michael Key is Toad, Seth Rogan is Donkey Kong, Fred Armisen is Cranky Kong, Kevin Michael Richardson is Kamek, Sebastian Maniscalco is Foreman Spike, and Jack Black is Bowser. They all felt like odd choices at the time of the announcement, and from this trailer, we learned what Kamek, Bowser, Mario, Toad, and Luigi will all sound like.
While The Super Mario Bros. Movie was originally going to come out this year, you can now expect the animated feature to hit theaters on April 7, 2023 in the United States and April 28, 2023 in Japan.

Entertainment

Orphan: First Kill’s new trailer reveals Esther’s origin

Isabelle Fuhrman in Orphan: First Kill.

This summer, Esther's back. Well, sort of. The deceptively youthful face who launched numerous memes made her debut in Orphan, the 2009 thriller starring Isabelle Fuhrman in the title role. Despite her childlike appearance, Esther is both a cold-blooded killer and a fully adult woman whose body suffers from hypopituitarism.

Esther was 33 in the original film, and Fuhrman is only 25, which means she's still young enough to portray Esther in the new prequel film, Orphan: First Kill. As you can see in the trailer below, First Kill may be a bit of a misnomer. Esther already seems to be very well-acquainted with the art of murder.