At this point, every Doctor Who fan is used to the seemingly eternal speculation about whether former Tenth Doctor David Tennant might return to the show in some capacity or other. He’s asked about it constantly by both fans at conventions and interviewers at major publications. Even Doctor Who itself included some tongue-in-cheek jokes about Tennant’s frequent presence on the series’ canvas in its most recent season. To be fair, it’s mostly warranted—Tennant has come back to the show twice since he originally departed in 2010, putting the skinny suit back on for both the 50th and 60th anniversary specials (though, technically, he played different characters in each). To put it bluntly, the prospect of his return to the Whoniverse is not exactly an unprecedented event, but it’s also probably not all that likely anymore, either. (Again, he’s done it twice already.) But what if maybe he should? cnx.cmd.push(function() {cnx({playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530",}).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796");});Walk with me: At a recent appearance at L.A. Comic Con, Tennant participated in a panel with his former companion (and potential future Doctor) Billie Piper. The pair swapped stories about behind-the-scenes moments, shared favorite memories, and were just generally charming, as most alums from this franchise tend to be at these sorts of things. During the audience Q&A portion of the event, Tennant and Piper were asked about the likelihood of a Doctor Who movie and whether they’d return to take part in such a project. Both were immediately enthusiastic, albeit in the way that creatives tend to be when something is pure speculation and very unlikely to ever see the light of day. But have the pair perhaps accidentally stumbled upon a way to help ease the flagship series out of its current troubles?The last season of Doctor Who ended with the Fifteenth Doctor’s regeneration… into none other than Piper herself. The show very purposefully made no effort to identify who she was playing, counting on the shock of seeing Ncuti Gatwa transform into such a familiar face to keep viewers wondering what in the world was happening during the series’ impending hiatus of indeterminate length. It seems evident that Piper, who once played both companion Rose Tyler and a holographic projection of the weapon known as The Moment, is not the Sixteenth Doctor. Is she reprising her role as The Moment? Playing some sort of manifestation of the Eye of Harmony? The Heart of the TARDIS? Something else? But no matter what (or who) Piper’s actually playing, the show will have to find a way to both successfully tell her character’s story and introduce whoever’s going to end up playing the next Doctor for real. And who better to do that than the man who’s already helped shepherd the series through several key franchise moments? There’s certainly a risk inherent in going back to the Tennant well again, especially so soon after the show’s 60th anniversary arc. But love him or hate him, Tennant’s still the most popular modern-era Doctor, and has already been deployed to help ease a transition between two eras of the show before. His Fourteenth Doctor not only still exists in the world of the show (thanks, biregenration!) but he’s canonically not doing much beyond hanging out at Donna Noble’s house with his feet up. If anything could get him out of retirement, one has to assume it would be an unidentified and mysterious regenerated being who happens to be wearing Rose Tyler’s face.Reuniting Tennant and Piper, two of the figures who are most responsible for the show’s modern popularity, could genuinely serve as a bridge to whatever’s next for the franchise. (Particularly since we have no idea what that will look like as yet.) It would probably go a long way toward smoothing the ruffled feathers within the fandom after Gatwa’s abrupt departure, which was messy, abrupt, and certainly felt like a last-second Hail Mary that showrunner Russell T. Davies concocted out of desperation when his original plans had to be scrapped. A TV movie or feature-length special could also help Davies and friends reorient the show’s narrative in a way that makes the mess of last season’s finale feel more thoughtful and deliberate, or at least like it served some sort of a larger purpose beyond shock value. It could, if necessary, also serve as a definitive endcap to the second Davies era, should he decide it’s time to give up the keys to the TARDIS before the next Doctor arrives. In short, it’s probably not something anyone would have predicted might happen when Gatwa’s era first started, but the idea could solve some very real problems for the franchise (and indulge in some first-rate fan service at the same time) It’ll likely be a while before we find what’s next for the Whoniverse, thanks to the weird production limbo the show is currently trapped in while we all wait for Disney+ to decide whether to continue its partnership with the show. (This probably won’t happen until after spinoff series The War Between The Land and the Sea has aired at the earliest. Sigh.) And, look, it’s obviously a long shot in the best of all possible worlds. Tennant and Piper are both booked and busy, and everything behind the scenes at Doctor Who seems like a struggle right now. But wouldn’t it be kind of cool if it did?The post How David Tennant and Billie Piper Could Build a Bridge to Doctor Who’s Next Era appeared first on Den of Geek.