Doctor Who season 11: Could John Simm be back?

In the real of strange things that have transpired on Doctor Who over the years, the idea of John Simm returning is far from the strangest. Sure, we did seemingly lose his version of The Master alongside Missy in “The Doctor Falls,” but there is one operative word there: Seemingly. Given that Bill can somehow come back in some form after becoming one of the Cybermen, it’d be idiotic to rule out all possibilities of revivals elsewhere.

When it comes to a possible John Simm return, there are effectively two things that matter the most: Whether or not he is interested in coming back, and then also whether or not season 11 showrunner Chris Chibnall wants him back. For the time being, the latter is unclear, but we do know now from Simm himself that he would very much entertain making another appearance.

Speaking to Doctor Who Magazine on the subject, Simm made it clear what the parameters are that could bring him back, and also how he would consider a return:

“You know what, I don’t know … I mean, I wouldn’t have thought in a million years that I’d be back [in 2017], yet here I am talking about it, so never say never. You never know. This thing called Doctor Who is a machine that just sort of goes on its own. It’s got its own rules. And if they want you back, then great. I would definitely think about it.”

As of right now, there are definitely some other priorities that are going on when it comes to the subject of Chibnall taking over, starting with the announcement of the next Doctor and nothing is official there yet. Following that, he needs to cultivate what he wants the story to be. He’s expressed an interest in telling a long-form story rather than individual arcs, and maybe that’d be an interesting innovation for the show. However, at the same time it could be an enormous risk given that with this show in particular, part of the fun lies with the story of the week.

Our hope would be that Chibnall will introduce his own version of The Master, and then from there maybe we could see some other past iterations turn up, as well. Both Simm and Michelle Gomez are so great in the role that it’d be the same to close the door on either one of them forever. With that, fingers crossed that there are some ideas that enter Chris’ brilliant brain sooner rather than later.

What do you want to see in terms of John Simm and the future of Doctor Who? Sound off in the comments!

Oh, and about some other news…

If you missed it, there is some additional scoop out there suggesting that a former Companion could make a grand return to the show for the Christmas Special! If you want to read more about that, you can do so over here. (Photo: BBC.)