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Doctor Who Star Matt Smith on Show's Future: "The Doctor Never Dies"

Checking in with Josh Horowitz's Happy Sad Confused podcast, Matt Smith addressed the "transition point" that Doctor Who finds itself in.

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Article Summary

  • Matt Smith says insists the Doctor never dies and will return in force.
  • Speaking on Happy Sad Confused, the Eleventh Doctor called Doctor Who one of TV’s most brilliant concepts.
  • With Russell T. Davies and Bad Wolf departing, Doctor Who’s next era may take time before reaching screens.
  • Peter Capaldi and Steven Moffat also stress Doctor Who is not cancelled, even without a Christmas special.

With the Christmas Special proving to be nothing more than a hope and dream, Russell T. Davies and Bad Wolf departing, and the show being put out to competitive tender, wherever you stand on all of this, one thing is clear. It's going to be quite some time before whatever the next era of Doctor Who is going to be ends up on our screens. Earlier today, Josh Horowitz dropped the latest episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast, spotlighting Matt Smith, aka the Eleventh Doctor, before this weekend's return of HBO's House of the Dragon. During the live recording at the 92nd Street Y on June 16th, Horowitz asked if Smith still keeps up on the show, noting that Doctor Who was at "a transition point" right now.

After sharing how it felt to be taking over the role from David Tennant, Smith offered some words of hope and encouragement regarding the show's future, without directly addressing the specifics or any of the comments/statements that have been released. "I'm so proud of that show. And the great thing is, you know, people say, 'Oh, Doctor Who's this and that, and it's you know,'" he shared. "The Doctor never dies. He never goes away. He, she, they will be back in force, and it will continue to sort of evolve and change and grow. And it's because it's the most brilliant concept for a show."

Doctor Who
Image: Happy Sad Confused Screencap; BBC

Doctor Who: Peter Capaldi and Steven Moffat Respond

"Doctor Who has been great to Russell [T Davies], and it has been great to everybody who's worked any of it, and it will continue to be great. It's not going anywhere. Maybe it will disappear for a while in time and space, that's what the Doctor does," Peter Capaldi shared with Digital Spy during the Into Film Awards, adding that the show "will be the same but different" when it returns. As for the possibility of a return of his Twelfth Doctor, it sounds like Capaldi isn't closing the door on the possibility. "You can never say never. You never know what happens in the future; anything can happen in the future, [Capaldi's Doctor] can do that, he can't do it. You just never know in the universe, and if he's going to do that, he can do that."

Doctor Who
Image: Gaydio Screencap; BBC

Writer and ex-Showrunner Steven Moffat also had some thoughts to share on the matter during the Utopia 2026 convention, tackling the topic of the Christmas Special being canned and the show's being shopped for a new creative team. "Doctor Who has not been cancelled. Yes, Christmas has been cancelled. Well, to be clear, not all of Christmas, the day will still take place, even if Doctor Who's not on it," Moffat shared. "Quite honestly, I'm not altogether sure why they bother doing that, but yes, Christmas, and that's a black mark." On that topic, Moffat added, "I don't like the fact there's not gonna be a Christmas special. There should always be a Christmas special. There's not going to be that, but the show will return – very, very definitely."

As for those comparisons between what the long-running show is going through now and when it was shut down in 1989, Moffat says that there's a very important difference. "This is not like… those of us who are old remember it was 16 years of, 'Well, we'll maybe tell you something next week,' – it's not that situation, right? So, out to tender is not out to grass. Out to tender means actively seeking a future for Doctor Who," Moffat explained. "It may take a little bit longer. Oh, so what? How much Doctor Who do you need? I mean, on your iPhones right now is every episode ever made, except for the ones we accidentally lost! So watch those for a while."

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Ray FlookAbout Ray Flook

Serving as Television Editor since 2018, Ray began five years earlier as a contributing writer/photographer before being brought onto the core BC team in 2017.
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