Long before anyone knew that John Barrowman was actually appearing in Doctor Who series 12, the Captain Jack Harkness actor had another big comeback in mind – a reunion movie with David Tennant and Billie Piper.

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As of July 2019 he’d first discussed the idea with former Who showrunner Russell T Davies, and it wasn’t long before fans were taking the whole thing very seriously. In fact, according to Barrowman, the whole thing got slightly out of hand.

“To be honest with you, that was something that David and I just talked about off the cuff, it was nothing that was said by anybody in any position of authority,” Barrowman told RadioTimes.com, adding that he’d also discussed the idea with David Tennant.

“David and I were having dinner in the States, and we were joking around and we said 'Look, wouldn't it be great if we had a reunion like a movie where we all got back together, the golden age?'.

“We kind of just reminisced and were talking about it. Of course, yeah. We both said it would be great, and we would love... if it did happen we would love to do it. That's not giving any secrets away, that's just a conversation that happened over dinner.”

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But when Barrowman mentioned this conversation, all hell broke loose, even though there wasn’t actually any indication that such an idea would happen – really it was just a bit of idle chat between friends.

“I told the fans, and it blew up into this whole thing,” Barrowman recalled.

“Like, 'There's a movie planned, they're talking about a movie, the BBC and blah blah blah' I just thought it'd be fun for the fans to know that we as people and as fans of the show still talk about it.

“Because it was such a huge part of our lives at that time, myself, David, Billie. Even Chris Eccleston,” he continued.

“It was such a massive time, and it made such an impact to television when it was brought back. So of course we talk about it, all the time.”

To be fair, who needs some odd spin-off movie with departed Who characters when Captain Jack is already back in the main series? Sure, it’s just a cameo for now – but we’re pretty sure the future of Captain Jack Harkness is still looking bright.

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Doctor Who continues on Sundays on BBC One

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