Would Peter Capaldi Ever Return To Doctor Who? Here's What He's Said

2023 saw David Tennant return to "Doctor Who" as the Tenth — now Fourteenth — Doctor for a trilogy of special episodes. His new time in the TARDIS was brief, before he handed the reigns of BBC's favorite sci-fi series over to Ncuti Gatwa and his new sonic screwdriver. But curious minds wonder whether or not other former Doctors will take a leaf out of Tennant's book and try for another go as the titular Time Lord. Some may — but Peter Capaldi, the Twelfth Doctor, won't.

During a 2024 interview with Forbes, Capaldi praised the new "Doctor Who" specials but disavowed any chance of mirroring Tennant's reprisal. "It was wonderful, exuberant, and full of life, drama, and monsters," said Capaldi of the specials. "It's 'Doctor Who,' you know, it's a gas and a good thing in the world ... [but] I like the idea that my Doctor is still out there. He's not available to come and be on TV. The real Doctor is not on TV, the real Doctor is out there."

At the very least, Capaldi remains consistent. In late 2022, he told Radio Times that he cherished his tenure on the show but that he liked the idea of letting that chapter of his life remain closed. He's not the only Doctor uneager to return, either.

While Peter Capaldi wants "Doctor Who" fans to know that he is at peace with his time on the series ending, there's another Doctor who wants just as many to know he is at war. Christopher Eccleston, the Ninth Doctor, left after only one season, something that no other Doctor in the modern era of the show has done. During a 2023 "Doctor Who" panel at the For The Love Of Sci-Fi convention in Manchester, England (via Comicbook.com), Eccleston spelled out his grievances with the artistic team, citing disagreements, lying, and abuse as the reasons behind his early departure.

"I love being associated [with 'Doctor Who'], I just don't like being associated with [producers Russell T. Davies, Jane Tranter, Phil Collinson, and Julie Gardner] and the politics that went on in the first series," said Eccleston. "I left because my relationship with [them] completely broke down ... I agreed with Russell that I would go, quietly and respectfully, and I would look after the show publicity-wise ... and then, without saying anything to me, they announced that I was leaving."

Eccleston added that, if those four were fired from the show, he would happily return to "Doctor Who." In fact, the possibility of his return was raised once — and a bit of rewriting had to be done when it failed to materialize.

"Doctor Who" often banks on popular actors returning for pivotal plot points, and things get tricky in the writing room if the talents refuse. For instance, the "Doctor Who" 50th Anniversary Special, "The Day of the Doctor" — often labeled the best "Doctor Who" special — sees the Tenth (David Tennant) and Eleventh (Matt Smith) Doctors team up to convince the War Doctor (John Hurt) that maybe killing everyone is a bad route to peace. It's an incredible story that sees multiple fan favorites all in one place — and it only exists as we know it because Christopher Eccleston chose not to return. 

During a 2013 interview with SFX magazine (as reported by Doctor Who TV), then-showrunner Steven Moffat said, "I had an initial contact with [Eccleston] and, in a very amiable and gentlemanly way, he didn't feel that he could come back to it ... there wasn't any big fuss about it."

Allegedly, Ten and Eleven would have joined forces to talk Nine off the ledge, rather than the entirely new War Doctor. It makes sense, and it also proves just how flexible the canon really is. So if Peter Capaldi is truly done with "Doctor Who," that's okay — Jodie Whittaker and Matt Smith are still out there, and The Doctor isn't above revealing a new incarnation just to mess with people.