While some fans were probably relieved that Doctor Who's team didn't cast an even younger regeneration for Twelve, many were skeptical of the explanation for casting Peter Capaldi, who has not only previously appeared in the show's fourth season episode "The Fires of Pompeii" but also in the series spin-off Torchwood (for more than one episode, might I add).

Showrunner Steven Moffat attempted to address this issue, claiming that it still follow's the show's mythos:

“We are aware that Peter Capaldi’s played a part in Doctor Who before and we’re not going to ignore the fact. I’ll let you in on this. I remember [previous showrunner] Russell [T. Davies] told me he had a big old plan as to why there were two Peter Capaldis in the Who universe, one in Pompeii and one in Torchwood. When I cast Peter, [Russell] got in touch to say how pleased he was, I said ‘Okay, what was your theory and does it still work?’ and he said ‘Yes it does, here it is.' So I don’t know if we’ll get to it… we’ll play that one out over time. It’s actually quite neat."

Right. Along with all the other instances where Moffat has altered many of the iconic British sci-fi series' canons (the sound of the TARDIS, anyone?), this one should be no surprise. Whovians can only hope that Moffat hands over the showrunner position to someone else next year.

Until then, we have November 23 to look forward to, which is when the 50th anniversary episode, "The Day of the Doctor" - which features Ten (David Tennant), Eleven (Matt Smith), AND John Hurt - is set to air.