Doctor Who's David Tennant responds to decades-long return rumours

David Tennant as the 10th doctor.
(Image credit: BBC)

David Tennant has responded to rumours that he will soon be returning to Doctor Who by electing not to explicitly respond to them.

As soon as the long-running series announced that Russell T Davies will be resuming his showrunner duties in its next season, fans began to wonder whether he'd bring back the Scottish actor, who played the titular Time Lord during his tenure between 2005 and 2010.

During a recent appearance at German Comic-Con, Tennant was asked about the speculation, to which he replied: "I've been asked a version of this question for the last 20 years and I've learnt through bitter experience that there's not any point even answering it, because whatever I say is spun by whoever wants to hear it.

"There's no point in me denying it, there's no point in me confirming it, there's no point in me fudging it," he continued (via RadioTimes). "Whatever I say will become whatever the internet wants it to be."

The Good Omens star went on to say that "it would be quite a weird idea" for a former Doctor to make a comeback – something that hasn't been done before in Doctor Who's 59-year history.

"It's not something that you'd necessarily expect from Doctor Who," Tennant concluded. "That's all I can... I'm not going to try giving any more than that because what's the point?"

Current showrunner Chris Chibnall and Jodie Whittaker, who is presently playing the Thirteenth Doctor, are set to depart the franchise in late 2022.

"I'm beyond excited to be back on my favorite show," Davies said in a statement, when the news broke last year. "But we're time-traveling too fast, there's a whole series of Jodie Whittaker's brilliant Doctor for me to enjoy, with my friend and hero Chris Chibnall at the helm – I'm still a viewer for now."

While we wait for the second of Whittaker's final trio of episodes, why not check out our list of the best TV shows of all time.

Amy West

I am an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering all things TV and film across our Total Film and SFX sections. Elsewhere, my words have been published by the likes of Digital Spy, SciFiNow, PinkNews, FANDOM, Radio Times, and Total Film magazine.