Time to regenerate?

So the rumours have been running thick and fast and the BBC has now announced that Matt Smith is going to be stepping down as The Doctor. We've known for a while he was looking to kick start a movie career in the US, but I thought we may have gotten another season out of him.

Matt Smith as The Eleventh Doctor

This has come on top of the announcement that Karen Gillan has signed on for the Guardians of the Galaxy movie. Now that the US has been opened up as a major audience of Doctor Who, I think we can expect to see more actors using it to launch US careers. This could be a real problem.

Eccleston's single season tenure as The Doctor was problematic because it didn't give him enough time to solidify his version of The Doctor. Tennent and Smith have had around the same time as The Doctor, but I still feel Smith hasn't made his presence felt as much as he could have. Perhaps this is a symptom of Steven Moffat's focus on the companions over The Doctor himself.

As my mate Reece on Nerditis put it:

I feel he was never really given a fair chance, instantly hated by a section of the fan base that thought he was too young and increasingly sharing the animosity that fans have been feeling towards Steven Moffat, despite in my opinion him being a great actor and often the highlight of an episode.

Good luck Matt. You did a good job with what you were given.

Now can begin the speculation on who will be the new Who.