RUMOUR: David Tennant returning for DOCTOR WHO's 60th anniversary

Multiple Doctor Who fan sites of differing levels of credibility are citing rumours that David Tennant will return for the 60th anniversary special in 2023. This special will also mark the return of former Doctor Who showrunner Russell T. Davies for a second stint in charge of the franchise.

The reports seem to be divided on whether Tennant is returning as the Tenth Doctor in a multi-Doctor special - as he did in 2013 for the 50th anniversary special, The Day of the Doctor - or if he is returning as the Doctor, with the Fourteenth Doctor sharing a face with his Tenth incarnation. The idea of the Doctor being able to "return" to using old appearances was floated in The Day of the Doctor, with Tom Baker taking up the role of "The Curator," a far-future incarnation of the Doctor who has chosen to reuse the Fourth Doctor's face.

Although the idea seems somewhat fanciful, and may be possibly sparked by the idea of Davies reassembling a "dream team" of former Doctor Who personnel to work on the next series, including Phil Collinson, Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner, it's not completely insane. Davies has confirmed that his first episode will be the 60th anniversary special, which presumably will have to introduce the Fourteenth Doctor whilst also celebrating the show's history, which may be irreconcilable requirements. By having the Thirteenth Doctor "degenerate" into a previous incarnation, or a new incarnation that looks the same, this minimises the amount of introductory work needed whilst also possibly introducing a mystery that could form the backbone of the 60th special.

The reports do seem to agree that Tennant's return, if it's happening, will be brief, limited to potentially the 60th anniversary special alone and maybe a few subsequent episodes, with a full-time, brand-new Fifteenth Doctor due to pick up the reigns thereafter.

It may also be that a "degeneration" into a prior incarnation allows Davies to pay homage to the show's history without engaging in a full multi-Doctor special. Ninth Doctor Christopher Eccleston and Twelfth Doctor Peter Capaldi have seemingly ruled themselves out of returning, and it's questionable if Thirteenth Doctor Jodie Whittaker would return immediately in her very next episode. That only leaves Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith, who has always said he'd be happy to return to the role if required.

As usual, take with a grain of salt until the news is formally confirmed. With filming due to start on the next batch of episodes in the spring, it'll be hard to keep news of who is returning under wraps for long.

J.J. Abrams confirmed as writer and director of STAR WARS: EPISODE IX

Lucasfilm have confirmed that J.J. Abrams will be revisiting the Star Wars universe by directing and co-writing Episode IX following Colin Trevorrow's recent departure.

The news is not really surprising: Abrams has worked on all three of the new main-sequence films as a producer and was also available. It looked like Abrams was gunning for directing a fourth Star Trek reboot movie, but with Paramount still hesitant about pulling the trigger on the film following Star Trek Beyond's disappointing box office, he had a hole in his schedule. In addition, with Episode IX due to commence filming in the next couple of months, an experienced director with some existing involvement in the film's development and conception makes a lot of sense.

Some fans will no doubt be disappointed, though. Abrams did a reasonably good job on The Force Awakens, but the movie did have some problems (such as the resurfacing of Abrams' bizarre inability to understand how big space is) and many of its strengths were down to Lawrence Kasdan's writing. Kasdan is retiring from writing Star Wars after the upcoming Han Solo spin-off movie, so will not have a hand in this movie. Instead, Chris Terrio will co-write the movie with Abrams (based on a story developed by Rian Johnson). Terrio is best-known as the co-writer of, er, Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice but, more hopefully, he also won an Oscar for writing Argo.

Lucasfilm are also understood to have explored the possibility of Rian Johnson, who wrote and directed Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (due in cinemas in December), directing the movie. However, Johnson is still editing the movie and putting it through post-production for the next three months, whilst Episode IX needs to go into pre-production yesterday to hit its intended release date.

Star Wars: Episode IX is due for release in May 2019, although don't be surprised at all if this slips to December instead.

UPDATE: It's now been confirmed that Episode IX will debut in December 2019. This will give Abrams more time to get up to speed on the movie and will also resolve Disney's scheduling issue of launching two massive movies (Episode IX and Avengers: Infinity War Part II) within a couple of weeks of one another.

Three new STAR WARS films to be released within 18 months of each other

The next three Star Wars movies will be released within 18 months of one another.

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens is still on track for release on 18 December 2015. The first Star Wars live-action spin-off movie now has a title, Star Wars: Rogue One, and a release date of 16 December 2016. This will then be followed by Star Wars Episode VIII, which now has a release date of 26 May 2017, forty years and one day after the release of the original Star Wars movie back in 1977.

Rogue One will star Felicity Jones (Oscar-nominated for her role in The Theory of Everything) in a so-far unnamed role. It will be written by Chris Weitz (American Pie, About a Boy, Antz, The Golden Compass) and directed by Gareth Edwards (Monsters, Godzilla). Rumours previously suggested this film may be set between the events of Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope and may involve a heist, leading to the discovery of the Death Star. However, the title of the film may also refer to the commander of Rogue Squadron, an elite formation of X-wing fighter pilots founded by Luke Skywalker but later taken over by Wedge Antilles.

Star Wars Episode VIII will follow on from the events of Episode VII but J.J. Abrams is not returning as director. Instead, Rian Johnson (Looper, Brick, The Brothers Bloom and several episodes of Breaking Bad) will direct and write.

Episode IX is tentatively pencilled in for 2019, with possibly two further stand-alone films to be released in 2018 and 2020. Whether the moving up of Episode VIII by six months will also bring forward the rest is unclear. What is clear is that if you're a Star Wars fan, things are going to get very interesting over the next few years.

RINGWORLD and CHILDHOOD'S END coming to TV

SyFy has announced that it is producing new mini-series based on the classic SF novels Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke and Ringworld by Larry Niven.

Ringworld is set eight centuries into the future and revolves around an expedition to a vast artificial ring in the space, so huge it extends completely around its star. It was an inspiration behind the titular structures of the Halo series of computer games (although, properly speaking, the Halo rings are much closer in size and function to one of Iain M. Bank's Culture Orbitals). The novel was published in 1970 and won the triple crown of the Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards. The novel has three sequels (The Ringworld Engineers, The Ringworld Throne and Ringworld's Children), so presumably if it's a big hit SyFy can turn this into an ongoing franchise. The four-hour mini-series is being produced by MGM TV in conjunction with Universal Cable Productions. Michael Perry (co-creator of The River and writer of Paranormal Activity 2) is helming the adaptation.

Childhood's End was originally published in 1953 and, alongside 2001: A Space Odyssey and Rendezvous with Rama, is one of Clarke's best-known novels. Its iconic opening, which huge alien ships arriving at Earth and plunging the major cities into shadow, was later echoed by both the V mini-series in 1983 and the movie Independence Day in 1996. It is noted as one of Clarke's most speculative novels, featuring paranormal elements and talkative aliens, rather unlike his later books which were driven much more by hard science and completely unknowable alien intelligences. This mini-series will be helmed by Michael DeLuca (a producer on Seven, Boogie Nights and The Social Network).

Whilst sounding promising, it's hard to forget the complete pig's ear that SyFy made of both the Earthsea and Riverworld books, and the channel's seeming difficulty in actually making SF in the last few years. Alongside the the Blake's 7 reboot, this indicates that SyFy is at least focusing on the right ideas. It remains to be seen if they can follow through with them.

J.J. Abrams will direct STAR WARS: EPISODE VII

Despite repeatedly saying that he would not direct Star Wars Episode VII: Absolutely Nothing to Do With Thrawn, Sorry, it was surprisingly announced yesterday that J.J. Abrams would, in fact, be directing the movie.

"Okay, George. So the main bad guy is a billowing cloud of black smoke and Luke has to defeat him by running around the corner and sticking a plug in the ground."

"Fine, but only if Jar-Jar's kids are in it. One of them can be a Jedi with dual-wielding lightsabres which he comically uses to smash up the scenery whenever the pace slackens."

"Deal."

Abrams had previously ruled himself out of contention, citing both his commitment to the new Star Trek movies for Paramount (Abrams's second Star Trek movie, Into Darkness, is out this year) and his overwhelming fandom of the Star Wars franchise preventing him from approaching a new film with the necessary detachment. Clearly these issues have been overcome, with Abrams agreeing to produce a potential third Star Trek movie (as well as being on board for a fifth Mission: Impossible film).

Star Wars Episode VII will be released in 2015 (possibly May). Michael Arndt is writing the script, with Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg co-producing.

Colour me cautiously optimistic. Although I have strong problems with Abrams's Star Trek work (so far), I enjoyed his work on Lost (though Abrams's involvement after the first season was limited) and Cloverfield, which he produced. Star Wars, if done right, could also be a better match for his skills.

THE HOBBIT III announced

Peter Jackson and his producing partners have announced that their two-film adaptation of The Hobbit will be stretched to three films. Jackson had filmed a lot of material for the two movies which will have to be cut out due to time. After discussions with the studio, this material will be combined with new material (filmed early next year) to turn The Hobbit into a trilogy.

"Guys, it's the script for The Hobbit III: Fifty Shades of Gandalf the Grey. You do not want to know what Galadriel is doing with that elven rope in this scene."

At the moment it is believed that the first two movies will retain their titles of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again, and their planned release dates of December 2012 and 2013. The planned third movie will presumably be released in December 2014.

No suggested subtitles for it have appeared (expect fan suggestions such as 'The Search for Plot' and 'There and Back Again and Back Again as Long as They Keep Paying' imminently), but given Jackson's preferences for keeping Tolkien's names, a chapter title from The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings could be pressed into service. Presumably it won't be The Hobbit: Queer Lodgings though. My preference would be The Shadow of the Past (a chapter title from The Lord of the Rings, used by Christopher Tolkien to title one of his History of Middle-earth books).

At the moment it is not entirely clear how this division would work. Originally Jackson envisaged one movie focusing on The Hobbit in its entirety and a second serving as a 'bridge film' to The Fellowship of the Ring. Later on, the two were combined with much of the bridging material now taking place simultaneously with the action of The Hobbit and the combined action broken across two films. Given the slightness of The Hobbit's plot, as depicted in the book, it would seem improbable that they could extend it across three movies, even if those movies are a lot shorter than the Lord of the Rings trilogy. If the plan is to retain two movies covering The Hobbit with the third film taking place afterwards, this could work better (and would allow sceptics to skip the third film if they really wanted to).

It's worth noting that Peter Jackson only has the rights to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings (and its numerous appendices). A great deal of background information fleshing out both The Hobbit and the period between it and The Lord of the Rings appears in the book Unfinished Tales and could be used to build a more comprehensive storyline, but Jackson does not have the rights to this book (or The Silmarillion or any of other post-LotR Middle-earth volume) and Christopher Tolkien has made it clear he will not sell the rights to them at any price. This would seem to somewhat limit the material that Jackson can draw upon for a potential third movie.