Doctor Who will return to our screens later this year, while we're all eager to see what Ncuti Gatwa brings to the table as the 15th Doctor, David Tennant will first reprise his role as the 10th Doctor. Well, kind of.
He'll actually be playing the 14th Doctor and, during a recent interview with Empire (via SFFGazette.com), the actor revealed that the unexpectedness surrounding his return to the franchise was a big part of what led to him revisiting perhaps his most iconic on-screen character.
"That was the first exciting piece of mischief that Russell [T Davies] created. That I was going to be Doctor No. 14 rather than Doctor No. 10 again," he teases. "You’ll just have to wait and see why the 14th Doctor is so much like the 10th."
"I was surprised," Tennant continued, "when I saw what that first script was based on, then I read the second script, which is unlike any Doctor Who episode ever. These new specials are Russell off the leash." As for what else Doctor Who fans can expect from the specials, the actor added, "It’s like the band getting back together for one last hurrah."
In the same interview, Davies himself chimed in to confirm he took inspiration from the 1980s comic book story "The Star Beast" for Tennant's return. "I needed to bring Donna back into the story. Which meant setting it in London, which meant something alien landing on top of London, and I automatically thought of Star Beast as the best way to tell that story."
A new Doctor Who still has also been released which you can take a closer look at below.
As noted, Tennant's Doctor will take centre stage in three specials we previously learned will be titled "The Star Beast," "Wild Blue Yonder," and "The Giggle."
Joining him and Catherine Tate as Donna will be Yasmin Finney, Jacqueline King as Sylvia Noble, Karl Collins as Shaun Temple, Ruth Madeley as Shirley Anne Bingham, and the late Bernard Cribbins as Wilfred Mott.
A brief logline which accompanied a recent trailer reads, "Destiny isn’t done with them just yet...The Doctor and Donna return for three special episodes." That doesn't give much away, though we're sure that's a deliberate decision on the BBC's part.
And no, we still don't have a confirmed premiere date for these Doctor Who specials despite sometime in November looking highly likely!