Editor’s note: This interview contains spoilers for Doctor Who Season 2, Episode 4, “Lucky Day.”
From The Little Mermaid to the upcoming reboot of I Know What You Did Last Summer, Jonah Hauer-King‘s star is on the rise, and his new guest appearance in the latest episode of Doctor Who highlights exactly why. In this week’s episode, titled “Lucky Day,” Hauer-King is essentially tasked with playing two versions of the same guy. For the first half of the episode, Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) and the audience fall in love with him as the charming, if a bit bumbling, boyfriend. But when the truth comes out, Hauer-King’s Conrad turns into the worst kind of toxic macho influencer whom we’d all rather never hear from again.
I recently sat down with Hauer-King to discuss his time on Doctor Who, and during our conversation, we discussed his relationship with the show prior to his audition, who his favorite Doctor Who villain is, and how he crafted both sides of the character. Hauer-King also spoke about going toe-to-toe with the Doctor and getting to play opposite Ncuti Gatwa, and while he couldn’t confirm or deny whether we’d see Conrad again, he was able to tease what to expect from his role in the new I Know What You Did Last Summer. You can read our full conversation in the transcript below.
Jonah Hauer-King Reveals His Favorite ‘Doctor Who’ Villain
“I thought it was scary, but also really playful and fun and silly.”
COLLIDER: I am so excited to chat with you today. Doctor Who is such a pillar of pop culture and science fiction. Were you a fan of the series before you got the role?
JONAH HAUER-KING: I was. I don’t know, maybe it’s the same in the US, I couldn’t say, but here in the UK, it’s such a massive part of our TV history. As soon as you are old enough to even conceptualize a TV show, you’re aware of Doctor Who. It must be one of the longest-running, if not the longest-running, TV shows that we have here, and so it’s just a massive part of our popular culture. I do think that even people who haven’t seen all that many episodes still probably know and use references that are from there, or know these iconic scenes and episodes, and also the iconic Doctors. I think everyone could name you every single Doctor, at least from the last 30 years. So, yeah, I was very much aware of it. I was a fan, but it’s been fun actually being part of it to go deeper.
I love that. Since you get to play a villainous character, do you have a favorite Doctor Who villain?
HAUER-KING: Oh, god, that’s a great question. I think I might have some recency bias, and probably because I know Ncuti [Gatwa] really well and I know Millie [Gibson] really well, but I loved the Goblin King. I thought it was scary, but also really playful and fun and silly, and the music that they sing. It’s just so representative of Doctor Who that you could somehow be talking about, like, eating babies, and it’s sort of okay, because it just works somehow. In any other context, you’d be like, “Let’s not do that,” and yet Russell [T. Davies] and the team just make it work. So, I choose the Goblin King.
‘Doctor Who’ Let Jonah Hauer-King Flex His Acting Chops by Playing a Bad Guy
“It’s not an opportunity I get that often, so that was one of the reasons why I wanted to do it.”
You play two very different versions of this character in this episode, so I have a two-fold question for you. I’d love to hear about how you crafted that softer side in the first half of the episode, getting Ruby to fall for him and all of us in the audience to fall for him, as well, and then you have that big villain turn. That isn’t something you get to play very often, so I’d love to hear about doing that 180 and leaning into the toxic influencer vibe, while making sure that he still reads as the same character.
HAUER-KING: That’s a really good question. When I first sat down with Peter Hoar, the director, and Pete McTighe, the writer — the Pete double act — obviously, they were so keen for it to be a big reveal. The way Pete advised I play it is actually to create a version of Conrad initially that is the Conrad that’s kind and honest and is falling for Ruby, because Conrad is a little bit unhinged, and we might not be able to conceive of someone being able to do that. But I think in his case, he plays it so truthfully and so real that I’m probably better off playing it as if it were real and not thinking about what’s to come. In other scenarios, you might say, “Oh, there was a moment there where you kind of saw something…” We really didn’t want that.
Then, when the time comes, it’s really just horrible and cruel, and so fun to play because it’s so conniving and bad. I feel like Conrad almost mocks that version of himself that came before, like someone that sweet-natured and humble and earnest is, to him, the worst possible version of masculinity or something, and he just completely changes. And you’re right, it’s not an opportunity I get that often, so that was one of the reasons why I wanted to do it. I wanted to show that side to my acting, and show that I could play someone that’s just awful.
You did such a good job. I found it really interesting that, as a kid, this guy is obsessed with the Doctor, but by the time he actually meets him, he’s too far gone to even really be excited or care. Can you talk a bit about playing that scene with Ncuti and going toe-to-toe with the Doctor?
HAUER-KING: That’s a great way of putting it. I think it’s sort of sad because I do think Conrad’s journey with the Doctor starts as a happy one. As a young boy, I think he is genuinely intrigued. He’s fascinated. Over the years, it’s explored a little bit, and with being rejected from UNIT, it turns sour. So, I think Conrad, in that happening, becomes more and more jealous of the Doctor, and he becomes the object of his resentment and anger at the world. The Doctor kind of symbolizes that. You’re right that when he finally meets him, it’s sad. It’s like, this is what you dreamed of as a boy, and then here you are, in the TARDIS of all places, face to face with the person you idealized, and you’re pretending like you don’t even care. You’re acting like you’re too good for him, you’re better than him, that you don’t care about anything he says. So, it’s a shame.
I was saying before, I think the whole sequence of events goes a lot further than Conrad could ever have imagined. I think that he gets to a point where, whilst deep, deep down he is quite a little small child, man-boy, and is insecure and has self-hatred and all of these things, I think he, superficially at least, has a massive ego and an inflated sense of self, and I think suddenly believes the hype. When he’s doing the press tour, after the events, he starts to think, “Maybe I can go toe-to-toe with the Doctor. Maybe I am as good as him all along,” which is why he acts so almost aloof.
Where Will We See Jonah Hauer-King Next?
“He’s more towards Conrad before the turn.”
At the end, we see your character seemingly recruited by Mrs. Flood for her fight with the Doctor. Will we see you again this season?
HAUER-KING: I don’t know.
Spoilers!
HAUER-KING: I just don’t know!
Lastly, I know you’re in the new I Know What You Did Last Summer movie, and at Collider, we’re super, super excited for that. Can you tease anything about your role?
HAUER-KING: Oh, god, I’m so happy you’re excited. I’m really pumped. It’s crazy. We finished the film six weeks ago, and it comes out in July, so that’s a very, very quick turnaround. We’re really, really pumped. I think the joy of this one is that, as you probably have heard, Freddie [Prinze Jr.] and Jen [Love Hewitt] are coming back. There’s some great continuity from the original. It’s about 30 years later, and a lot of the vibe is there, but I think also with the new young cast and with Jen Kaytin Robinson, the director, there’s definitely humor in there. There’s definitely a modern sensibility, and it feels fresh.
I play a guy called Milo who is part of this group of friends, and he’s actually a good-natured boy. He’s more towards Conrad before the turn. He’s sweet-natured and he’s got a good heart, and obviously, he gets embroiled in all kinds of events where he’s being asked to do things or make decisions that are really difficult. So, there’s a lot of tension for him to come.
The next episode of Doctor Who airs on Saturday, May 10, at 3 AM ET on Disney+ and BBC iPlayer.
- Release Date
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December 25, 2023
- Network
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BBC
- Directors
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Douglas Camfield, David Maloney, Christopher Barry, Michael E. Briant, Barry Letts, Michael Ferguson, Richard Martin, Peter Moffatt, Pennant Roberts, Lennie Mayne, Chris Clough, Ron Jones, Paddy Russell, Paul Bernard, Michael Hayes, Timothy Combe, Morris Barry, Gerald Blake, Graeme Harper, Waris Hussein, Rodney Bennett, Mervyn Pinfield, Hugh David, John Gorrie
