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Rumor Control: Are David Tennant & Paul McGann in the Series 9 Finale?

By Barry Rice

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Hold on tight Doctor Who Watchers, because we’ve got a wild rumor to report today.

This is actually a two-part rumor; the first is based partly on fact and is easier to conjecture, while the other comes from a single, unknown source from a single website.

Related: 5 Mind-Blowing Fan Theories About Doctor Who Series 9

First, let’s talk about David Tennant. Here are the facts: Tennant and former Doctor Who showrunner Russell T. Davies ARE in Cardiff, Wales right now. They’ve been photographed together and separately at several different locations throughout the week:

All right, fair enough. So we’ve established that Tennant and Davies are definitely in Cardiff. The question is: why? Neither of them have any known projects in Wales at the moment. Tennant just finished filming Jessica Jones for Netflix in New York and will soon start filming Broadchurch Series 3.

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But one show that DOES film in Wales is Doctor Who. With both Peter Capaldi and Steven Moffat indicating that Series 9 will explain why the Doctor’s face resembles Caecilius from ‘The Fires of Pompeii,’ is it possible that Tennant is filming new scenes to further explore that episode’s events?

Related: Doctor Who: The Mystery of the Twelfth Doctor’s Face

According to Moffat, it was Davies who actually came up with the explanation for Capaldi’s recurring face:

"“We are aware that Peter Capaldi’s played a part in Doctor Who before and we’re not going to ignore the fact. I’ll let you in on this. I remember Russell told me he had a big old plan as to why there were two Peter Capaldis in the Who universe, one in Pompeii and one in Torchwood. When I cast Peter, [Russell] got in touch to say how pleased he was, I said ‘Okay, what was your theory and does it still work?’ and he said ‘Yes it does, here it is’. So I don’t know if we’ll get to it… we’ll play that one out over time. It’s actually quite neat.”"

So is it too much to believe Davies might return to his former show to oversee the fulfillment of his theory? Honestly, yes, it probably is. I’m not ruling anything out, but it seems unlikely that Davies and Tennant would go parading around Cardiff if they were in town to film a secret Doctor Who scene. Also, Tennant has apparently been skipping his daily shave, so it’s hard to imagine him shooting new scenes as the Doctor.

Now for the second rumor. This one comes from Warped Factor, a Doctor Who/sci-fi website. They have a report from a source they believe to have been on set for Doctor Who‘s latest filming block. According their informant, the cliffhanger in the penultimate Series 9 episode is a “degeneration” scene — some sort of flashback through all the previous Doctors.

Related: Doctor Who Could See the Twelfth Doctor Meet Caecilius This Season

They speculate most of these would be quick cuts using existing footage and CGI, but there will apparently be extended stops at certain Doctors, including Paul McGann. He’s even allegedly filmed his scenes as the Eighth Doctor already.

If you put the two rumors together, this could be the reason Tennant is in town, as well. What would be the purpose of a degeneration scene? I have no idea. I’d advise taking this rumor with a healthy dose of salt, as it’s based on some pretty shaky information.

Doctor Who Series 9 premieres on September 19. For all the latest information, check out our full episode guide: Doctor Who Series 9: Everything There is to Know So Far.

What do you think? Are you excited by the possibility of seeing David Tennant and Paul McGann back on Doctor Who? Sound off in the comments below!

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