It’s certainly fair to wonder if this is some sort of setup, meant to hint to eagle-eyed fans that the Piper we saw at the end of season 15 isn’t playing the Doctor or some secondary figure like The Moment, but the modern era’s original companion once more. But does it make sense? Well, yes and no. Showrunner Russell T. Davies second turn at the series’ helm has seen him revisit a lot of Doctor Who history, reintroducing classic villains, bringing back familiar characters, and even revisiting some of his own previous stories. (“The Well” is essentially a sequel to the season 4 episode, “Midnight.”) But Rose Tyler’s story isn’t exactly unfinished. Sure, technically she’s still considered a missing person on Earth, but in her alternate universe, her father’s still alive, her mother joined her, and she’s got a Tenth Doctor of her very own. That’s pretty much as happy an ending as anyone could hope for on this show. What story is really left to tell here? Could revisiting that episode even tell us anything about her journey that we don’t already know?
Plus, there’s the David Tennant of it all. Look, Piper’s presence, no matter what character she turns out to be playing, was always going to invite speculation that Tennant might pop back around for another spin in the TARDIS alongside her, particularly since his Fourteenth Doctor is essentially just hanging out at Donna Noble’s house at this point. Yes, it’s true that Tennant just came back for the 60th anniversary a few short years ago. But love him or hate him, he’s still the most popular modern-era Doctor, and the prospect of seeing him reunite with Piper onscreen once more is a tantalizing one for any fan. And there’s a certain logic to trying to use him — and whichever one of the three different characters he’s played on the show — to try and smooth over some of the historic bumps the franchise is currently facing. Would it work? Honestly, it probably would. But would it be the best choice for the show and its future? That’s a murkier question.
After all, while this Christmas episode will certainly have plenty of loose ends to tie up and plot holes to explain, at the end of the day, it also has to look to the future. Whether or not we’ll meet the Sixteenth Doctor in this installment is a question only Russell T. Davies can answer, but even if we don’t, the hour at least has to leave things in a place where it feels like the show can continue organically — and survive without Piper (or even Tennant’s) help. Can one episode ever hope to serve that many masters? As with so much about this franchise at the moment, we’ll have to wait and see.
