Doctor Who’s David Tennant broke the biggest rule in Shakespeare at New York Comic Con: Don’t say Macbeth in a theater.
“I hold no truck with such superstition,” said David Tennant on stage during his spotlight panel at New York Comic Con, moderated by Popverse’s Tiffany Babb. He’s about to start rehearsals of The Scottish Play at the Donmar Warehouse in London and was happy to share his “Shakespeare geek point of view” with the crowd at NYCC. “I think we should say the word Macbeth,” he said. “Macbeth, Macbeth, Macbeth!”
Because of the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, the Scottish actor was unable to discuss many of his current or past projects. “Come on SAG” became Tennant’s refrain as audience members shouted out questions about Doctor Who, Good Omens, and other things he couldn’t talk about. Tennant did, for what it’s worth, sneak in a shout out to Ncuti Gatwa, who will assume the role of the Doctor in the next season of the series, while talking about drama school. They both attended the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, now known as the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
And that doesn’t mean Tennant couldn’t discuss the broad strokes of his career, the benefits of New York pizza, his many years voicing the How To Train Your Dragon audiobooks, the mostly Zoom-set BBC series Staged with his Good Omens costar Michael Sheen, and lots and lots of Shakespeare.