Doctor Who's Peter Capaldi May Reteam With Veep Creator

After four years, actor Peter Capaldi is finally saying goodbye to Doctor Who... But that just means he may have time to say hello (though with a few more curse words in the mix) to a world he played in previously: the politically charged comedy of Veep creator Armando Iannucci.

Back before Veep, before he was The Doctor, Capaldi played Malcolm Tucker, a frequently filthy mouthed government official somehow more monstrous than Julia Louis-Dreyfus' Selina Meyer, on The Thick of It. The 2005 BBC show spun off into a feature film called In The Loop, which brought the British characters to the US and provided a template for Veep (a planned American version of The Thick of It was scuttled in favor of HBO's Vice Presidential comedy).

With his time on Doctor Who ending, TV Guide asked the actor at San Diego Comic-Con whether -- now that he has the time free -- he'll be bringing Tucker to finally guest star on Veep.

Laughing, he told us, "I don't know ... Maybe that would be fun. I'd certainly be able to swear again! I always felt it would be inappropriate to swear, so I haven't been able to swear for four years."

But during that conversation, Capaldi did drop one surprising, tantalizing detail: "I think I'm going to be working with Armando next year," the actor teased.

Iannucci is currently rolling out the cinematic release of his Russia-tinged satire The Death of Stalin, while Capaldi has a role in Paddington 2, which will hit theaters later this year. Beyond that, though, neither has anything official on their dockets.

Does this mean a return of Malcolm Tucker and the world of The Thick of It at a time when the British (and international) political situation is ripe for parody? Would a potty mouthed politician like Tucker even stand out in the current political atmosphere? Or perhaps the pair is working on an entirely new project?

We'll find out one way or another, after Capaldi finally says "f---ety-bye!" to Doctor Who this Christmas.

TV Guide has reached out to Iannucci's reps for further comment.