Doctor Who‘s Mandip Gill suggests she could continue on as companion with the 14th Doctor after current the Doctor, played by Jodie Whittaker, regenerates. Gill plays Yasmin ‘Yaz’ Khan, a police officer from Sheffield who appeared in Whittaker’s opening episode, “The Woman Who Fell to Earth.” Gill has remained with the Doctor since then, outlasting fellow season 11 and season 12 companions Graham (Bradley Walsh) and Ryan (Tosin Cole). She was joined in the TARDIS during season 13, subtitled Flux, by Liverpudlian food bank helper Dan, played by comedian and actor John Bishop.
Flux wrapped up with the season’s final episode, “The Vanquishers,” on Sunday night. The episode ended with Yaz and Dan continuing their travels in the TARDIS with the Doctor. Three specials, which will see the end of both Whittaker’s tenure as the 13th Doctor and writer Chris Chibnall’s time as showrunner, are expected next year. The first special, “Eve of the Daleks,” will air on New Year’s Day, while little is known about the plot of the final two episodes, notwithstanding the foreshadowing of the Doctor’s regeneration and the Master’s return towards the climax of “The Vanquishers.” Both Bishop and Gill will star in the 2022 specials.
Speaking with RadioTimes.com, however, Gill suggests that while Whittaker may be handing in the TARDIS keys, it might not be the last fans will see of Yaz. Praising the show as “being open to so many options” and to “old and new characters,” Gill notes that the show doesn’t need a “new cast every time it starts with a new Doctor.” While the Leeds-born actor adds that any return for Yaz may be more likely to happen “some time in the future,” she would “never say never.” Read the full quote below:
We don’t know where the specials and that are heading for everyone’s character, you know? […] What’s great about Doctor Who is that the audience are so open to old and new characters all the time. They don’t need a whole new cast every time it starts with a new Doctor…. But at the same time when that does happen, like it did happen for us [in 2018], they’re also massively on board with that. This show is open to so many options.
You also never know with this series, a lot of why it works is because there are a lot of secrets, and then a lot of revelation. And it’s really exciting. And that’s actually what people love is that they don’t know what’s around the corner, but they always get to guess. I’ve loved every minute of the journey. And actually, that’d be some time in the future that that would happen. But I’d say… never say never.
The world’s longest-running sci-fi show has endured for its ability to blend the old with the new, both through time-traveling storylines and mixing fresh and familiar characters. It’s relatively common for companions to carry on with new Doctors post-regeneration. Most recently, Jenna Coleman’s Clara Oswald stayed with Peter Capaldi’s 12th Doctor after receiving the baton from Matt Smith. However, Russell T. Davies is taking over the reins once more after Chibnall’s departure, and it’s less common for companions to stay on after a change in showrunner, usually viewed as a harder reboot of the series. And as the BBC has reportedly lost creative control over the show to the production firm Bad Wolf – run by two former Davies-era Doctor Who producers – a fresh start seems the most likely route.
That’s not to say, however, that Yaz couldn’t return one day. Companions from previous eras have shown up years later. Elisabeth Sladen, who played Sarah Jane Smith, returned in 2006 after a 30-year absence. While there has been little companion crossover between showrunners in the modern era, Chibnall brought Davies’ Captain Jack Harkness back for last year’s New Year’s Special, “Revolution of the Daleks.” But Gill is not the only one who is open to continuing on, as Bishop has also expressed interest in continuing on in the TARDIS post-Whittaker. While Davies may want a clean slate for his new series and the 60th anniversary of the show in 2023, his first run of the show showed he was not averse to bringing back old companions.
