John Barrowman (Captain Jack) shuts down Doctor Who reunion rumors

Doctor Who fans were over the moon thrilled this past Sunday to see the very brief return of Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) in the latest episode. It had been nearly a decade since he last appeared, so Whovians were ecstatic at his unexpected cameo.

But before this cameo came to be, Barrowman had dreams for a different kind of return. Speaking to RadioTimes.com, Barrowman reminisced about a dinner he had with Doctor Who alum David Tennant — who played the Tenth Doctor from 2006 to 2008 — where they talked about the idea of a reunion movie featuring the two of them and Billie Piper, who played fan favorite companion Rose Tyler. Now, this idea has been known about for a while, and some fans took it rather seriously. But as Barrowman recalls, it never really got past the “wouldn’t it be cool if” stage:

"To be honest with you, that was something that David and I just talked about off the cuff, it was nothing that was said by anybody in any position of authority. David and I were having dinner in the States, and we were joking around and we said ‘Look, wouldn’t it be great if we had a reunion like a movie where we all got back together, the golden age?’. […] We kind of just reminisced and were talking about it. Of course, yeah. We both said it would be great, and we would love… if it did happen we would love to do it. That’s not giving any secrets away, that’s just a conversation that happened over dinner."

It wasn’t until Barrowman just casually mentioned the idea in front of fans that the whole thing took off. Come on, you know us Whovians would do that. What did you expect?!

Really, I’m not sure we’ll ever get this kind of reunion, at least not until the next big milestone anniversary. And even then, there’s no guarantee.

For now, Whovians will have to be content with the fact that Captain Jack Harkness made a cameo in the latest episode. According to showrunner Chris Chibnall, he won’t be back again this season, but the door is wide open for him to return in season 13, which will hopefully give him more space to interact with the Thirteenth Doctor.

And if you’re really itching to see some sort of reunion, you can always rewatch the Doctor Who 50th anniversary episode from 2013, “The Day of the Doctor,” featuring Matt Smith, David Tennant and John Hurt all together in one room. We even got a very vague look at Peter Capaldi, who would take over as the Twelfth Doctor shortly thereafter.

Perhaps the 75th anniversary special will bring some surprises? I guess we will have to wait until 2038 to see.

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