Doctor Who Season 8, Matt Smith’s Return, And New Christmas Special Confirmed

By David Wharton | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

SmithDoctor Who just wrapped up its seventh season in truly epic fashion, with a storyline set to be continued in the 50th anniversary special this fall. While Who fans have plenty to talk about in the meantime, several things have been officially confirmed which we already assumed were true: the Doctor will indeed be returning for an eighth season in 2014, with Matt Smith still in the role, and we’ll be getting a Christmas special as usual.

Smith confirmed his own return in an interview with The Sun’s TV Magazine. The Who lead is currently appearing in How to Catch a Monster, the directorial debut of actor Ryan Gosling, which began filming earlier this month. Smith says, “We come back and shoot the Christmas special over the summer, then we go on to the next series, which will either start filming at the end of this year or at the start of 2014.” Good news for the Smith fans; as for the haters, well, you’re stuck with him for at least another season.

While Smith’s quote is confirmation enough that there will be a new season of Who, the BBC went ahead and made it official with an announcement Saturday night. Showrunner Steven Moffat is already said to be at work plotting the new season. Hopefully he’ll recover some of his writing mojo with season eight. While it rallied and finished in fine form, season seven was pretty uneven, especially the first block of episodes leading up to the departure of the Ponds.

The 50th anniversary special is confirmed to be arriving on November 23rd, with David Tennant and Billie Piper returning to their roles as the Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler, and John Hurt playing…well, somebody. Also confirmed for the special is Jemma Redgrave as The Brigadier’s daughter, Kate Stewart, first seen in “The Power of Three.”

The 50th anniversary celebrations will also include An Adventure in Space and Time, a TV movie about the origins of Doctor Who, starring David Bradley as First Doctor actor William Hartnell.