Peter Capaldi Confirms Jenna Coleman’s Return For Doctor Who Christmas Special

Clara Oswald, as played by Jenna Coleman, is already the longest-serving companion of the modern era of Doctor Who, starring in 36 episodes over four years. According to a new report, though, the character might just have another appearance to come.

Several rumors have popped up over the last few months all pointing to Coleman making a return, and now, Peter Capaldi has confirmed it – more or less. Speaking at San Francisco Comic-Con over the weekend, the outgoing Doctor Who star was asked if we’d ever see Clara again, and simply said, “I think you may.” Perhaps worrying that he might have let something slip that he wasn’t supposed to though, he then added:

“I’ll see her again. You may see her again too. But I won’t tell. It’d spoil things. You may see her. She’s still there. Everyone in Doctor Who is still there.”

While the actor is clearly trying to do a bit of backtracking here for fear of spoiling something, it’s pretty obvious at this point that we haven’t seen the last of Jenna Coleman’s companion. And that’s music to our ears – a sentiment that many fans probably share as well.

A return for Clara would make a lot of sense, too. As Whovians will know, a “tradition” has built up over the past few years that each Doctor’s first companion will cameo just before he changes. Billie Piper returned as Rose Tyler in David Tennant’s swansong “The End of Time,” Karen Gillan came back as Amy Pond when Matt Smith passed the torch (well, sonic screwdriver) to Peter Capaldi in “The Time of the Doctor,” and variations on this idea also appeared a couple of times in the classic era.

Besides that, it would also work out narratively for Clara to bump into the Doctor again, as she was last seen flying around the universe with her own TARDIS. Her companion at the time was Ashildr, played by Game of Thrones’ Maisie Williams, but we haven’t heard any reports of her making a return here and given the actress’ commitments to HBO’s hit fantasy series, we don’t imagine she’ll be showing up.

One way or another though, all will be revealed when Doctor Who makes its way back to our screens for the 2017 Christmas Special, “Twice Upon a Time,” which will simultaneously usher in Jodie Whittaker as the Time Lord and bid farewell to Peter Capaldi, who’s set to hang up his hat for good this festive season.