*Updated* The Rumour About John Hurt's Character in the Doctor Who 50thAnniversary Special

*Update* It is now confirmed that Hurt will be playing "The Doctor" (that's all that the titles said anyway). This has sort of shot my theory in the foot as the Eleventh Doctor is shown to be aware of Hurt's Doctor, which means that it's unlikely that his character will attempt to deceive the Tenth & Eleventh Doctor's in the special, though he could be messing with their memories, but that's just speculation. It pleased me to hear the Valeyard mentioned by the Great Intelligence however, and maybe it's still possible that the John Hurt could be playing the Valeyard.

 

*Original article*

So there's a rumour going around that John Hurt is actually playing the Ninth Doctor in the 50th anniversary special of Doctor Who. Apparently the other Doctor's have forgotten that he existed due to Hurt's Doctor supposedly being the incarnation most involved with the Time War. If this is true, then that would make Christopher Ecclestone the 10th Doctor, David Tennant the 11th Doctor and Matt Smith the 12th Doctor, which would mean the Doctor would only have one regeneration left due to Time Lords having thirteen total incarnations. Naturally, this has got a lot of the fanbase riled up, but I think there is more to this than meets the eye.

Hurt has said in an interview already that he plays "part of the Doctor" in a "kind of trinity", so that confirms that his character is at least closely tied to David & Matt's Doctor's. But that doesn't necessarily mean he is the Ninth Doctor. This "rumour" is likely an intentional leak to stir up anticipation for the special, and very likely is a fake-out.

It's my theory that Hurt's "Doctor" will eventually be revealed as the Valeyard, an evil version of the Doctor that exists somewhere between the Doctor's latter incarnations. The character first made an appearance in the Sixth Doctor story "Trial of a Time Lord". Toby Jones previously played a version of the character in the Series 5 episode "Amy's Choice". He will likely appear to the Tenth & Eleventh Doctor's claiming to be the Ninth Doctor in a bid to manipulate them for some unforeseen scheme, revealing his true identity near the end of the special.

I know this is all speculation on my part, but it would certainly make sense for a twist and I don't think anyone can argue that the Doctor being the main villain (in a way) would be an awesome idea, especially if it's John Hurt playing the role. Steven Moffat has stated that the special is about looking forward as well as looking back, and perhaps one could interpret that as resolving past aspects of the series that are still prevalent today. There's already enough evidence to suggest that Moffat is looking to resolve the Doctor/Rose relationship so it isn't too much of a stretch to assume that he's also seeking to shed more light on the events of the Time War.

Besides, this story was originally reported by The Sun, so I think we should take this with a pinch of salt anyway ;)...