Doctor Who Should Leave David Tennant Alone As He Isn't Going to Save the Franchise

Let him rest, for crying out loud

Being a Doctor Who fan over the past few years has been a lesson in patience and disappointment. The latter intensified tenfold when we learned that, for all intents and purposes, the long-running sci-fi show has been canceled indefinitely. While it may end up being the best thing for the franchise — especially if whoever takes the series next actually has fresh ideas — that doesn't mean we particularly enjoy the prospect of no more Doctor Who on our TV screens for the next five to ten years.

However, there is hope. Hollywood screenwriter Dean Devlin, known for Independence Day and Stargate, confirmed to Radio Times that his company, Electric Company, will join the BBC in discussions about Doctor Who’s future. The Times previously mentioned Devlin's interest in bringing back David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor. Though he didn’t confirm or deny this, our response is: Can we just move on from David Tennant as the Doctor already?

Whovians quickly fell for Tennant’s roguish antics as the Tenth Doctor back in 2006, when he took on the role from Christopher Eccleston after only one season of the reboot that aimed to update the classic character for new audiences after a long absence from TV. It’s not hard to see what was so enjoyable about Tennant: he was funny, charismatic, had great chemistry with all of his companions, and was capable of balancing the light and dark sides of the Doctor with a mesmerizing gravitas. I still get goosebumps whenever I watch “The Water of Mars” and see the feral look in Tennant’s eyes as his hubris consumes him.

That’s all to say: I love Tennant as the Doctor. I also loved several of his cameos, such as his appearance in The Sarah Jane Adventures and in the 50th anniversary special, “The Day of the Doctor,” alongside Matt Smith and John Hurt. Technically speaking, Tennant could appear as the Fourteenth Doctor because he's still kicking around in London with Donna Noble.

But his time is done, and pretending otherwise reeks of desperation to cling to an era that was so well-loved because Doctor Who’s return after 16 years away was new and refreshing — not solely because of Tennant. That’s not to say we doubt Electric Company’s plans to bring Tennant back as the Doctor wouldn’t be well-received. The actor's popularity would almost certainly help draw more viewers to the show, as it did when he briefly took on the role of Fourteen after Jodie Whittaker’s tenure as Thirteenth Doctor came to an end.

Call me old-fashioned, but I don’t think views should define a franchise that’s been a British staple since 1963. The Doctor’s regeneration makes the character unique and allows many actors to add their own spin. Love or hate them, Eccleston, Smith, Capaldi, Whittaker, and Gatwa were all different Doctors from Tennant, likely the first for some fans. Imagining a world where Tennant is the Doctor for years on end doesn’t fill me with joy, but with sadness at the thought of the show being robbed of its own potential for renewal.

If all Electric Company — or anyone else, for that matter — cares about is replaying the old hits and doing nothing different with the Doctor, what does that say about the series' future? The Doctor themself knows that everything ends and something new is reborn from its ashes — it’s a lesson the franchise needs to embrace, or, like the Tenth Doctor, be consumed by its own hubris.