Last month, fans were shocked, saddened, outraged and confused to learn that hit BBC show ‘Doctor Who’ was leaving U.S. streaming services Netflix and Hulu.  It was theorized that the BBC did not renegotiate to extend its contract with these entities because it was starting up its own streaming service and using ‘Doctor Who’ as the biggest hook to lure customers.

It was shaping up to be a dire year for Whovians, with the announcement that except for the 2016 Christmas special, there would be no new episodes until 2017.  With no new episodes and not being able to stream existing ones, 2016 was looking to be quite a Who drought.

And then came what appeared to be a glimmer of hope.  Amazon Video tweeted a video to promote the new programs that would be coming to Prime Video in March and lo and behold ‘Doctor Who’ was included!  And just when fans’ hearts began to flutter, the tweet was deleted.

What does this mean?

Unfortunately, there has been no comment on Amazon’s part.  Those on the optimistic side are hoping that the video’s release was by accident– perhaps ‘Doctor Who’ IS coming to Prime Video, but the announcement wasn’t ready to be made.  Maybe the deal was still being hammered out or maybe Amazon just wants to make a bigger, splashier announcement than simply mixing in a brief glimpse along with a bunch of others in a short teaser.

On the pessimistic end of things though, maybe it was just a screw up.  Maybe someone accidentally slipped in the wrong clip.

To further agonize fans, BBC hasn’t made an announcement regarding the future availability of ‘Doctor Who’ on any streaming service, not even its own.

One source reported that should BBC launch its own service that ‘Doctor Who’ and ‘Sherlock’ would be exempt.  I’ve not seen that reported anywhere and don’t see why they would be the case, since they are BBC shows– the two most popular, at that.  Both shows would be massive draws for their service.  (But if you know of a reason why this is the case, please comment below.)

Whenever we learn anything more about ‘Doctor Who”s streaming fate, we will let you know.

Sources: Radio Times, Cinema Blend