The final Doctor Who 60th anniversary special aired this weekend on Disney+. Is anyone else still walking on air over having gotten David Tennant back for three precious hours? More importantly, is anyone else wondering if that ending leaves the door open for Tennant to come back to Doctor Who in the future?
Warning: the rest of this article contains major spoilers for the three Doctor Who 60th anniversary specials.
The third Doctor Who special, “The Giggle,” sees the 14th Doctor (Tennant) facing off against the Toymaker (Neil Patrick Harris), who’s planted a subliminal message in TV and computer screens to make humans follow their most irrational impulses. In the ensuing global chaos, the Doctor tries to outsmart the Toymaker, but gets mortally wounded. Why? The Toymaker has already faced two Doctors—now he wants to play with a third one. Right on cue, the Doctor begins to regenerate.
But something goes awry. Instead of regenerating as usual, the Doctor splits in half. One half is the 15th Doctor, played by Ncuti Gatwa. The other half? David Tennant’s Doctor, still kicking.
After the Toymaker is defeated (the long and short of it: he loses a game of catch), Donna (Catherine Tate) figures out why the 14th Doctor has the 10th Doctor’s face. It’s because the Doctor has a lot of unresolved trauma from his adventures, and he needs to take a break and find a home. Now, the 15th Doctor can go protect the universe, while the 14th Doctor settles down for a quiet life. With an extra TARDIS, of course.
So wait, how many David Tennants are there in the Whoniverse now?
Longtime Doctor Who fans no doubt recall that this isn’t the first time Tennant’s Doctor split off into separate people. Way back in season 4, an incident called the Meta-Crisis (the same thing that forced the Doctor to erase Donna’s memories of him) culminated in the Doctor creating a clone of himself. He sent this close to the parallel universe in which his old companion, Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) resided. The Doctor’s clone then proceeded to live out the romance with Rose that the main Doctor never got to have.
Now, the 14th Doctor is happily living with Donna and her family. So with two of Tennant’s Doctors running around, how likely is it that Tennant will return to Doctor Who at some point?
Is there any sign that David Tennant will return to Doctor Who?
So, far, sadly, there’s no definite word that David Tennant will reprise his role as the 14th Doctor at any point. That’s not a no—it just means that there haven’t been any announcements of a cameo or guest appearance yet.
And hey, come on, this is Doctor Who we’re talking about. Doctor Who loves to bring back old Doctors for team-ups and guest appearances! The 60th anniversary specials weren’t even the first time Tennant himself had returned to the franchise (although his clone didn’t appear again after season 4).
So if, like me, you’re a David Tennant fan for life—and that ending has you hoping that the 14th Doctor could pop up to help deal with a particularly gnarly villain—don’t lose hope. I’ll bet that second TARDIS is just itching for a new adventure.
(featured image: Disney+)
