After UK producers reportedly ran from the Doctor Who tender, Hollywood is raising its hand.
Dean Devlin, the producer and co-writer of Stargate and Independence Day and CEO of LA-based Electric Entertainment, confirms his company wants to make its pitch to the BBC once the bidding officially opens, though he shot down a report claiming talks are already happening.
That report, via The Times, also claimed Devlin wants to bring back David Tennant as the Doctor, which for now remains firmly in the rumor column.
UPDATE: Tennant has now weighed in, floating the idea of a bid built around “a particular performer” while insisting he isn’t hinting at any insider knowledge. Mark Gatiss, meanwhile, predicts the tender will quietly go nowhere, just like it did in 1989. Netflix and Prime Video have also been asked directly about the show, and neither would commit to a bid, though Netflix has since ruled itself out entirely, with content boss Anne Mensah saying the show belongs on the BBC. Stargate star Michael Shanks has since called out Amazon over those Doctor Who comments, and confirmed he was set to reprise Daniel Jackson in the series Amazon canceled.
Dean Devlin denies BBC talks ‘preliminary or otherwise’
Responding to the claims, Devlin told Radio Times in a statement: “It is untrue that we have had negotiations with the BBC. Preliminary or otherwise. When the proper time comes when they are prepared to speak with people, we certainly hope to have a discussion with them.”
The denial checks out on the timeline alone. The BBC hasn’t opened the tender yet and says details will be announced “in due course” via its eSourcing Portal, so no production company can formally be in talks with anyone.
So for the record: interest confirmed, negotiations denied.
Devlin is openly campaigning for the job
Devlin isn’t being subtle about wanting it. He previously posted an AI-generated video on Facebook showing himself alongside various former Doctor Who actors on the TARDIS set, captioned: “So BBC is putting Doctor Who out to tender. Do you think they should partner with us at Electric Entertainment?”
Electric Entertainment is the studio behind Leverage, The Librarians, The Ark, and Almost Paradise, and Devlin directed the Gerard Butler disaster flick Geostorm.
Notably, Devlin has worked with Tennant before, directing him as the villain in the 2018 thriller Bad Samaritan.
Devlin just watched Amazon kill Stargate
There’s also a new wound driving all of this.
Devlin and Roland Emmerich, who co-created the original 1994 Stargate film, were executive producers on Martin Gero’s new Stargate series at Prime Video, which Amazon MGM abruptly canceled in June before filming even started, reportedly over concerns it wouldn’t appeal beyond the franchise’s existing fanbase.
That decision sparked the #SaveStargate fan revolt, which has since passed 100,000 petition signatures, flown a banner plane over Amazon MGM Studios, and lit up a Times Square billboard.
Franchise stars including Robert Patrick, Michael Shanks, and Joe Flanigan continue to back the campaign, which shows no sign of slowing down.
In other words, Devlin just watched a studio shelve one legacy sci-fi franchise with a devoted fanbase. Now he’s chasing another one sitting on the shelf, and this time he wants to run the revival himself.
What about the David Tennant return?
Per The Times, Devlin believes reinstating Tennant as the Time Lord could help revive the show. Since Devlin says no talks of any kind have taken place, treat the Tennant angle strictly as speculation for now.
Tennant himself has since addressed the scenario without naming anyone, telling Doctor Who Magazine that a company mounting a bid around a specific actor “might be a way of luring in the BBC, if they got someone shiny” while stressing he has no insider knowledge.
It’s not a crazy idea, though. Thanks to the bi-generation, Tennant’s Fourteenth Doctor is still alive on Earth with a TARDIS of his own, giving any new producer a ready-made way to relaunch the series with its most popular modern star while skipping past the Ncuti Gatwa era and the unresolved Billie Piper regeneration cliffhanger.
Tennant has since said he’s open to returning as Fourteen, while Piper has distanced herself from the role, calling herself “Rose Tyler in hiatus” rather than the next Doctor.
And whoever takes over inherits a show whose Disney-era relaunch failed to chart on Nielsen in the U.S., so pitching a return to the era fans actually watched is exactly what you’d expect from a Hollywood veteran.
The first challenger to BBC Studios
Devlin’s interest matters because until now, the field looked empty. Deadline reported in June that four respected UK drama producers all balked at the tender, with one saying “you would have to be mad” to take the show on, and that Doctor Who may be shelved until 2028 at the earliest.
The only confirmed bidder so far is BBC Studios, the corporation’s commercial arm and the heavy favorite. CEO Tom Fussell told Deadline the studio has produced the show for 60 years, wants to produce it for 60 more, and is “in it to win it.”
Former showrunners Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat, meanwhile, insist the show isn’t cancelled and argue the tender actually guarantees years of Doctor Who for whoever wins it.
Doctor Who’s future is still a blank page
The bigger picture hasn’t changed. Doctor Who hasn’t aired a new episode since Ncuti Gatwa’s finale in May 2025, Disney+ walked away, and Davies and Bad Wolf exited as the BBC canceled the 2026 Christmas special.
There’s no showrunner, no confirmed Doctor, and nothing on the schedule beyond ancillary projects like the Fugitive Doctor Circuit Breaker event while the BBC gets its paperwork in order.
The tender hasn’t even opened yet, but the campaigning clearly has. For the full breakdown of the process, the timeline, and everything up for grabs, here’s what’s next for Doctor Who.
