10 Doctor Who Characters Who Almost Had Different Endings
4. The Twelfth Doctor Was Supposed To Regenerate Straight After The Cybermen Battle
When mapping out the regeneration of Peter Capaldi's Twelfth Doctor, then-showrunner Steven Moffat had planned it so that the Series 10 finale - The Doctor Falls - would be his final episode.
The Doctor would suffer the loss of a companion, Bill, after watching her turn into a Cyberman. He would then square off against two versions of the Master, before being struck down in a heroic final stand against a freshly-created Cyber-army. Finally, he would succumb to his injuries, regenerating into his thirteenth incarnation.
This is the ending that Moffat initially had in mind - not just for Capaldi's Doctor, but for himself, too. He was also planning to leave after the Series 10 finale, but despite how finely-tuned his exit strategy was, this plan had to be changed when Moffat heard that the incoming showrunner, Chris Chibnall, was not intending to write a Christmas episode for 2017.
So, wanting Doctor Who to keep its valuable festive slot, Moffat drunkenly agreed to extend his run by creating a Christmas special, and he went off and scripted Twice Upon A Time quite late in the game. This now meant that he had to change The Doctor Falls' ending, delaying Twelve's regeneration so that he had time to squeeze in one final adventure with the First Doctor.
And then, after all that fuss... the show ended up losing its Christmas slot anyway.