Jenna-Louise Coleman

It doesn’t appear as if Doctor Who will be dropping by Comic-Con 2016, but ahead of Steven Moffat’s final season, the longtime showrunner seems to be letting it all hang out. Not only does a new interview see Moffat admitting some major mistakes in both Season 7 and the Season 9 premiere, but also when we’ll finally meet Pearl Mackie’s new companion Bill.

Turnover is nothing new for Doctor Who, especially as Season 10 gears up to introduce its newest companion in Pearl Mackie’s “Bill,” but that never stops excitement from stirring around a possible return. To wit, Jenna Coleman’s Clara may already be returning for Season 10, as Peter Capaldi claims to have shot something new with the departed star.

Despite the distinct lack of Doctor Who in 2016 beyond the Christmas Special, we’ve known that Peter Capaldi would take on a new companion to replace Jenna Coleman’s Clara. That new star will land as soon as this weekend, as Doctor Who prepares to announce the next companion entering the TARDIS.

Doctor Who has plenty of time to figure out its future, airing only a Christmas Special in 2016 before kicking off Steven Moffat’s final episodes in 2017, that we don’t yet have an official companion to replace Jenna Coleman’s Clara. That said, one report claims EastEnders star Rakhee Thakrar may be in the running.

And lo, another Doctor Who seeason has come to a close (at least until Christmas), and while Jenna Coleman’s Clara put in a sizable return from her apparent death back in “Face the Raven,” Clara’s actual exit still leaves a void for Peter Capaldi’s next TARDIS companion. Capaldi himself wants only for the next companion to be female, however, saying “I’m frightened that they’ll give [a male companion] all the action.”

Doctor Who fans are certainly used to a bit of turnover amongst the cast, the latest of which will see Jenna Coleman’s Clara exiting the series before Season 9’s end. That departure will presumably arrive in the next few weeks (if not immediately sooner) while Steven Moffat claims the search for Peter Capaldi’s next companion hasn’t made much progress.

Doctor Who fans are notoriously good at sniffing out potential exits of its many stars over the years, as we most recently saw with Jenna Coleman’s Clara, but there’s no need to raise alarms over Peter Capaldi just yet. Despite a few rumors, Steven Moffat confirms that Peter Capaldi will continue to wield the sonic screwdriver (er … shades) through Doctor Who for the foreseeable future.

Half the tenure of Doctor Who stars goes to fending off rumors of their potential exit, but Jenna Coleman seems at last to be living up to the hype. Following this week’s rumors, The BBC has officially confirmed that Coleman’s current Doctor Who companion Clara Oswald will leave the series behind in Season 9. Let the new speculation wheel commence!

The nature of British TV and Doctor Who itself seems to breed rumors of star exits as soon as they’re cast, and Jenna Coleman in particular has been dogged repeatedly by reports of leaving. Here we go again, as a (slightly) credible report claims Clara and The Doctor will be no more after Season 9.

We’ve seen Doctor Who everywhere this week, and rightly so with Saturday’s Season 9 premiere “The Magician’s Apprentice,” so why stop now? Peter Capaldi looks cool as ever rocking shades and a guitar in 20 new photos from the premiere, and Clara has a surprising new friend.