If "Doctor Who" ever makes it to the big screen, it will star Matt Smith (or whoever replaces him), and will be within the universe of the current television series.

That's what "Doctor Who" television showrunner Steven Moffat wants fans to know, even as talk about a new movie that wouldn't involve any of that moves forward.

Moffat took to Twitter Thursday to be much more direct about his thoughts on David Yates' plans to reboot the Doctor Who franchise for movie theaters.

"To clarify, any Doctor Who movie would be made by the BBC team, star the current TV Doctor and certainly not be a Hollywood reboot," Moffat said on Twitter. "David Yates, great director, was speaking off the cuff, on a red carpet. You've seen the rubbish I talk when I'm cornered."

Moffat went even further, issuing a statement to Radio Times that the franchise is "a vitally important BBC brand with a huge international audience [that] not even Hollywood can start from scratch," according to Dark Horizons.

Yet, while Moffat seemed to be giving Yates a way out of his statements, the Harry Potter director isn't biting. In fact, he's only becoming more entrenched in his idea to reboot the Doctor Who franchise.

"I'm directing 'Doctor Who,' so that will be three years," Yates matter-of-factly told The Los Angeles Times on Nov. 29, after the red carpet appearance where the news initially broke through trade publication Variety. Yates added that American Steve Kloves, who wrote many of the screenplays in the Harry Potter film franchise, could be brought on board to write this new "Doctor Who." That would confirm speculation initially offered by various observers, including Airlock Alpha.

Just as Moffat is of him, Yates had some nice things to say about Moffat. But he seems intent on moving forward with a "Doctor Who" film whether Moffat likes it or not.

"Steven Moffat has done a wonderful job and Russell T. Davies, who kind of reinvented it the firs time around," Yates told the Times. "They're great. David Tennant was great. Matt Smith is brilliant, he's marvelous, and very, very clever."

Yet, Yates feels there's more that can be done in Doctor Who obviously, without those big names in the franchise, and might be trying to create his own Harry Potter-like franchise in the universe now maintained by Moffat.