Steven Moffat Promises 'Doctor Who' Movie Won't Be A Reboot

If you're a time-tested "Doctor Who" fan, the past month may have found you in an emotional tumult of sorts. In mid November it was revealed that David Yates—director of the "Harry Potter" franchise since "Order of the Phoenix"—would be the main man behind bringing "Doctor Who" to the big screen within the next 3 years. With no actors or plot details attached to the project, fans wanted to know if a "Doctor Who" film would fit in the universe that had spent decades—along with a good few years worth of reprisal—adding to its vast continuity.

When we shared footage of our chat with Yates on the red carpet of the BAFTA Los Angeles 2011 Britannia Awards, the director was non-committal to any real news on the subject, saying only that a search is underway for a writer and a great script. But it was the director's mid-November comments to Variety that fueled rumors that his silver screen "Doctor Who" would be a drastic re-imagining of the series.

Cue "Doctor Who" head Steven Moffat, who took to his Twitter this morning to quell fan speculation and outrage by quashing the rumor.

"To clarify: any Doctor Who movie would be made by the BBC team, star the current TV Doctor and certainly NOT be a Hollywood reboot," he wrote.

RadioTimes caught a statement Moffat issued to a national newspaper regarding the future of a big screen Doctor, calling the character and his revered world "a vitally important BBC brand with a huge international audience," one which "not even Hollywood can start from scratch."

The producer further explained that technically "there simply are no developed plans for a Doctor Who movie at the moment" but "if and when the movie happens it will need to star television's Doctor Who - and there's only ever one of those at a time… Whatever happens, the BBC and BBC Worldwide will work together to ensure that we don't just get a movie, we get the movie that everyone wants."

Sounds like the time masters behind the longest running and arguably most successful sci-fi series in history are definitively decided on doing the utmost justice to "Doctor Who," including all the glorious baggage he's built up—and fans have loved— along the way.

Are you happy to hear that any "Doctor Who" movie will necessarily be tied to the BBC's existing "Doctor Who" universe? Let us know what you think in the comment section or on Twitter!