The Doctor’s latest companion, Bill Potts, had quite the rollercoaster ride of a character arc in Doctor Who season 10. At first, she was an ordinary university student but, thanks to her adventures with the Doctor, her life was turned upside down.
In the emotional finale, Bill was tragically converted into a Cyberman. However, she was saved by her lost crush Heather and the pair went off to travel the universe together as shapeshifting space puddles. Hey, it makes sense in context. Well, no, it doesn’t really, but just roll with it.
Anyhoo, Bill is back for one last outing in the upcoming Christmas special, titled “Twice Upon a Time.” As we just explained, the character eventually got a sort of happy ending, so her return in the episode does make sense. However, actress Pearl Mackie has hinted that there’s more to her comeback than meets the eye.
“It was a total honor to be asked back and it’s even more exciting that it’s for a Christmas special! Bill is 100% back with the full Bill energy but she’s not quite all she seems… There’s so much [going on in the episode]. We’ve got not one but two TARDISes and we travel in both of them which is pretty exciting.”
Whatever this secret is, it thankfully hasn’t changed the character’s loveable personality. Mackie promises us that she got to bring back “the full Bill energy” and we’ve even seen a bit of it ourselves in a recently released clip from the episode, showing that the ever inquisitive Bill will once again be rattling off questions that the Doctor can’t answer.
It might be that Bill doesn’t tell the Doctor about her new form, so that they can fall back into their old dynamic without worrying about the consequences of her now being made of sentient oil. It’s also possible that Bill can’t travel with the Doctor anymore in this state, which could be the reason the pair will be forced to part ways by the end of the hour.
One way or another, we’ll find out soon enough as Doctor Who “Twice Upon a Time” airs Christmas Day on BBC One/America.
