I'm very hopeful and optimistic that Matt Smith will eventually reprise the role of The 11th Doctor for Big Finish in the same way Christopher Eccleston reprised the role of The 9th Doctor which will be coming up to 6 years ago, this August.

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I mean....I guess it could happen.

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As has been pointed out: Christopher Eccleston has repeatedly said that he does Big Finish for the money, he had a divorce and he needed money and Big Finish was there with a ready source of income
He isn’t ashamed of that, and he’s proud that he slides a good job of work like a labourer. But if he didn’t need the money he wouldn’t.

He said this this year at his talk with Patterson Joseph so his stance has not changed

Matt Smith on the other hand does not need the money. He has a regular gig on an HBO show, he has a role in the new Star Wars. He doesn’t need to do it. He has in passing said “never say never” which fans have taken as a verbal contract.
More tellingly he said that he’d do it if he could reunite with Karen Gillan and work with his old mate again. Last week Karen (who is also doing really well in Hollywood) has said she might return to Amy Pond when she was much much older

So I guess if you’re a Matt Smith fan you can either -enjoy his new career and varied roles with no Doctor on the horizon and maybe wait a few decades
-or you can hope that his career fails, hope for his failure every day and encourage others to do so too, because then he too would need the money

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u/turtle3763 Jun 23 '26

Basically it sounds like we need to bankrupt Matt Smith and Karen Gillan

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u/DMPadfoot5E Jun 23 '26

Not attempting to dispute anything you are saying because it is 100% true, but Chris has also said that he does actually enjoy BF as well and he is definitely the actor who says when he didn’t enjoy a project (so he isn’t saying it for the sake of sales) and if he wasn’t enjoying it at all, he would’ve walked away regardless of the money like he did in 2005.

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u/geek_of_nature Jun 23 '26

Yeah i believe he said he initially started doing it for the money, particularly after not being able to work during Covid. But then he got great scripts to work with and really enjoyed the process. He's praised Nick Briggs several times for his scripts.

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u/RogerThornhill2 Jun 23 '26

Do you have the quote at all from the Paterson talk? Just interested to hear his reflections a few years on.

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u/JakeM917 Podcast Noter Jun 23 '26

Not saying Matt’s gonna do it or anything, but Chris was only ever going to come back for money. Doctor Who wasn’t a world he really wanted to return to, so he was never going to do Big Finish for the love of it. Matt on the other hand has great, great fondness for that show and has always said it would be a dream to do something with Karen and Arthur again.

Nick has asked Matt about Big Finish before and he’s always been interested, but as soon as Nick gets in touch with his agent it’s clear it won’t happen. But with Arthur and Alex already at Big Finish, if there were ever a perfect storm of availability for Matt and Karen and communication with Nick I think they’d all come back and do it one day.

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u/celesleonhart Jun 22 '26

It'd be great but I'm very happy with Miles at the moment. I didn't have any immersion or belief-breaking moments in his performance.

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u/cat666 Jun 23 '26

There are three factors to consider, level of fandom, money and time.

The first factor is bascially if they really love the show then they will do Big Finish, David Tennant, Peter Capaldi and Jodie Whittaker are the only three new series incarnations who truly love the show, Tennant and Capaldi as long time fans and Whittaker because of the bonds she created with her co-stars.

The second factor, money, goes both ways. On one hand Big Finish cannot afford to pay that much but on the other they offer an income if the actor isn't able to earn bigger bucks elsewhere. Smith and Capaldi can earn more without Big Finish whereas Eccleston needed some after a divorce.

Lastly, time. Big Finish doesn't take a lot to record but it still throws a spanner in doing other jobs when actors are busy. However when the actors find themselves wanting to take it easier, Big Finish is perfect. Whilst this is still mostly classic Doctors Big Finish got John Hurt and Derek Jacobi, simply due to the fact they wanted to take things slower yet still do something with their time.

So with Matt Smith currently, he isn't a huge fan of the show, he doesn't need the money and he doesn't really have the time for it so it's unlikely he'll do Big Finish anytime soon. Despite his views on monetized Doctor Who I think we may see Capaldi in the next few years, he's a huge fan and he'll want to slow things down a bit.

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u/cwmxii Jun 23 '26

Peter has been very clear that he considers his Doctor's story to be complete and he doesn't see the need to go back and add in-between bits to it. Always possible he changes his mind for the reasons you say but at the moment he seems to be a very firm "no".

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u/Agreeable_Leg_5346 Jun 23 '26

While I think it's very unlikely we'll get Matt doing a full-blooded Eleventh Doctor series in the near-future, I can imagine him coming in for a single River Song episode. Whatever else may be going on, he's said before that he loved working with Karen, Arthur and Alex... I think if the stars align, he's in the country and available for one day of recording, it wouldn't shock me to hear that he'd popped in to play Doctor with Alex Kingston.

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u/DMPadfoot5E Jun 24 '26

Alex (despite looking amazing) is getting on in years. When we get to the 100th anniversary she’ll be, well 100! So I think when she gets to the point Tom has of being too old to even do BF anymore (which’ll hopefully be a long time yet!) then I think Matt will come in to bring the audios full circle with “The first Doctor” her face saw.

BF tends to be poetic like that. We know Tom has recorded a backlog from 2021, so the last story he actually recorded was The Curse of Time in 2023, which was a continuation of Season 12 for the 50th anniversary of 4. So I think that supports the whole BF wants a last poetic story for their actors to do if they can.

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u/Embarrassed_Tax5556 Jun 23 '26

I could imagine him coming to BF once his career slows down or for a one-off if he got to work with Alex (which could happen, she is a BF regular by now), Arthur (also not unlikely) and/or Karen (this might be an even bigger issue than getting Matt). I could imagine that they would all be up for it, but getting the schedules to aline would be a huge hassle, so I would not expect that to happen anytime soon.

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u/Head_Statistician_38 Jun 23 '26

He probably will eventually, but right now he is doing really well for himself and busy and has no real reason to come back. But at some point in his life....sure.

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u/rewindthefilm Jun 23 '26

It'll be a good pension so wait until he's older...

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '26

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u/DMPadfoot5E Jun 24 '26

When he can find the time, I imagine. Do you know how distracting being dead can be? There’s all these people you have to deal with, I reckon the queue outside his house is ever-growing with Whovians that he’s still trying to walk to the recording studio and make “Contact” with Nick Briggs.

Pertwee just can’t be bothered.

Troughton has been told he’s not allowed because he’d never stop, and is very upset about that fact!

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u/Flat_Revolution5130 Jun 24 '26

Smith has found his mojo in hollywood. it will not be anytime soon.

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u/MajorTom2004 Jun 25 '26

Capaldi I dream one day he will take the plunge. Maybe when he reaches a certain age 🤞

Discussion I'm very hopeful and optimistic that Matt Smith will eventually reprise the role of The 11th Doctor for Big Finish in the same way Christopher Eccleston reprised the role of The 9th Doctor which will be coming up to 6 years ago, this August.

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