'Doctor Who' Teases Comeback Way Sooner Than Anyone Expected

Warning! Spoilers ahead for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4, Episode 1, “Valles Marineris.”I was fully prepared to wait multiple years for Doctor Who to return to our screens, because that’s how long I thought was necessary for the show to recover in the wake of the Disney era. The BBC seems insistent on partnering with another big studio, and Russell T Davies’ exit means another showrunner will need to fix what he broke with the random and confusing return of Billie Piper. On paper, that certainly sounds like a lot to sort out before Doctor Who can resume. On the other hand, I’m starting to become convinced that the Doctor’s return is mere weeks away.

Officially, Doctor Who is on something of a hiatus. I need to make that clear. There’s been no news from the BBC on when the long-running British sci-fi saga will be back, or who will be involved when it returns. It has, at least, been made known that Doctor Who isn’t done. With that in mind, let’s turn our attention to an increasingly coy tease in a completely unrelated show. Another sci-fi franchise has been quietly suggesting for a while now that there is a canonical connection between itself and Doctor Who. The time may be approaching to finally confirm that.

‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Just Referenced the Doctor Again

Carol Kane as Commander Pelia in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

One of the last Star Trek shows standing just kicked off its penultimate season in style. The time-travel-heavy, intentionally paradoxical storyline of the incredible Season 4 premiere, “Valles Marineris,” is certainly the kind of thing that Doctor Who has done so well for over six decades. Even that aside, the episode has a compelling moment pretty early on involving Commander Pelia (Carol Kane). She mentions an adventure that the Enterprise’s current mission reminds her of, and in the process, she makes me extra certain that she once traveled in the TARDIS with the Doctor.

CAPTAIN PIKE: “This is an unusual mission. We are to face a category 10 interstellar squall. It’s something we rarely see in the Alpha Quadrant.”

COMMANDER PELIA: “I’ve seen one once a long time ago, but not from this close. I think I was in a phone box at the time.”

– Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4, Episode 1, “Valles Marineris.”

In isolation, I would accept this as a fun little Easter egg, albeit a fairly loaded one. When paired with the additional Doctor Who references in other recent Strange New Worlds episodes, it seems very much like the Star Trek prequel series is getting ready to welcome the iconic Time Lord for a ground-breaking appearance. Remember, the TARDIS had a brief on-screen cameo in Season 3, and Pelia mentioned a “time-traveling doctor” she once knew. There is just no way all these moments are throwaway Doctor Who nods. They’re becoming too prominent for that.

We Already Know a Star Trek & ‘Doctor Who’ Crossover Was Officially Discussed

In a recent interview with AwardsRadar, Strange New Worlds co-showrunners Henry Alonso Myers and Akiva Goldsman were asked about the Season 3 nods to Doctor Who. Rather than shy away from the implications, both men embraced the possibility of Pelia traveling with the Doctor in her long and storied past. Goldsman also confirmed that they “were trying with Russell [T Davies] to do a crossover. We were for years.” There were reportedly some “really cool conversations about it,” but ultimately only “near misses.” Now, I would be willing to accept the sweeping aside of these Doctor Who references in Strange New Worlds as just a bit of harmless fun.

I’m not ruling out the possibility that all these Doctor Who references in Strange New Worlds are little more than relics of a planned crossover that ultimately fell apart. That would be pretty depressing, though.

But I’ve been lied to by the TV and movie industry too many times to believe this crossover is dead. I know that Doctor Who isn’t exactly active right now, but the Doctor is, by design, always traveling through time and space. There’s nothing stopping him from showing up in Strange New Worlds from a storytelling perspective. Whether this was officially orchestrated behind the scenes and is being downplayed as a possibility remains to be seen. My theory is that this is exactly what’s happening, though. What a way to celebrate 60 years of Star Trek this would be: teaming up with an even older sci-fi franchise from across the pond.

Which Doctor Could Show up in a ‘Strange New Worlds’ Crossover?

Any Doctor could ultimately feature in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, at least in the abstract. Some are far more likely than others, though. I think I’ve narrowed it down to three main possibilities, and all are potential frontrunners for different reasons. The first is Billie Piper, if she’s even playing the Doctor at all. She was the last actor to be seen in the TARDIS, so a linear continuation of that could result in her showing up in Strange New Worlds. I think this is the least likely of my three theories, though. It’s definitely my least desired.

The second potential Doctor would be Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor. He’s no longer Doctor Who‘s leading man, but we don’t know how long it would take to plan and shoot a crossover like this – if a crossover is indeed what’s going on. Maybe it was completed by the time Gatwa stepped away, and we’ll get one last appearance from Fifteen. Plus, the conversations were between the Strange New Worlds showrunners and Russell T Davies, so it would make sense if the crossover involved Davies’ second era in charge of Doctor Who.

Finally, and I think this could be the most likely candidate, we have David Tennant’s Fifteenth Doctor. Not only does Davies clearly favor Tennant as Doctor Who‘s star, but the Scottish actor is also one of the most recognized to have ever played the Doctor. Considering any upcoming crossover would seem to be hosted by Star Trek rather than Doctor Who, it would be logical to be as broad as possible with who’s playing the Time Lord. That way, the magnitude of the reveal is less likely to be lost on those less familiar with the Doctor. I must once more make it clear that a Doctor Who crossover with Star Trek isn’t confirmed, but I think we have reason enough to be cautiously excited about the possibility.