Has Peter Capaldi already filmed his regeneration? Or more importantly, has he film the actual regeneration or another regeneration entirely?
There’s no getting away from the fact that the Twelfth Doctor’s time is ending but could that faithful day be closer than we think? According to the Sydney Morning Herald (via Digital Spy), Capaldi said that that he’d already shot a dramatic regeneration just before filming wrapped on the upcoming tenth series – with the Christmas Special, the expected departure date, yet to begin filming.
“I did [the regeneration] the other day. It was a strange day. It was explosive. He goes out a fighter.”
That ‘strange day’ seems to be part of a bait and switch with fans, with the recent trailer showing the Doctor about to regenerate exhibit A in this Moffat masterplan. However, there’s no definite proof that the comments above refer to a regeneration fake out, and we’d be surprised if he didn’t regenerate during his last episode.
Something funny is going on with the Twelfth Doctors regeneration, and even Capaldi admitted to the New York Times that the process isn’t as straight-forward this time around:
“There’s this notion now that it’s the same process he’s gone through every time, and that’s not true. It’s only the last couple of regenerations that have been, as it were, fairly straightforward ones.
“I can’t go into the details of a lot of it, because I know what happens, but I don’t know how it happens.”
My own personal theory is that the regeneration will start at the end of Series 10 and the whole of the Christmas Special will be the Doctor battling against an unknown foe mid-regeneration. Basically, it’s The Christmas Invasion or The Eleventh Hour in reverse. I think that’s what Capaldi means when he says he ‘goes out a fighter’.
Anyway, the only way we’ll know is once Series 10 kicks off this Saturday with The Pilot on BBC One at 7:20 pm.