Perhaps he is on the bridge of the USS Enterprise after getting dragged in to another time war? Crossover event Star Trek/Doctor Who Christmas special. Disney would probably need to buy the license for Star Trek though just like they did for Doctor Who in order for this to happen.
All indications, official and unofficial, suggest that the three specials are just Tennant, at least as a focus. It's still possible we'll see Smith and Capaldi but they both have denied it. Anything is possible but the safe bet is that the three specials focus on Tennant.
It's an old-fashioned TrekBBS-predicting-RTD-is-about-to-do-a-total-continuity-reboot! By gar, it's been a while!
I know what you mean - it's got that prestige-era, big budget cinematic glow, but with the RTD vibe. x2. I'm often critical of nostalgia bait and know this might not be everyone's cup o' tea. I would've been happy to kick off with Ncuti's tenure. But - it IS an anniversary special. It also handily serves as a palate cleanser / buffer for those of us, erm, less than enamored with the Chibnall era.
My one worry is that the ratings shoot up for these three episodes then go straight back down again afterwords. It would unfortunately cement the idea that a series that is supposed to work with many lead actors now only works with one.
But it has been proven that the show can thrive without Tennant, let's just hope Ncuti is more of a Matt. And let's remember, the first season or so of Capaldi still had decent ratings, and Whitaker's first season started so well, the audience were there and engaged, what they got was just underwhelming.
We are getting back the guy who successfully launched the show from its dead state in 2005, so i do not think you need to worry too much, and Tennent is only getting 3 episodes, then after that Ncuti's run which is going to be great, that is the vibe i am getting from what they have been putting out so far, so i have no worries about any of this, i can't wait. ha
Saw the trailer, and this looks like a lot of fun. The Tennant/Davies is still one of my favorites, and I'm glad to see it looks like this is going back to that style. Meep piqued my curiosity in the trailer, but I had no idea he was a preexisting character.