There is no denying the impact that Michelle Gomez has made as Missy on Doctor Who. Over the past four episodes, excluding the Christmas Special, Missy has been an integral part of the story, providing her special blend of charming humor and psychotic behavior. Even though she is one of the villains in Doctor Who, it is difficult not to like Missy.
While her departure in The Witch’s Familiar, where the Doctor told her to run after she attempted to trick him into killing Clara, has caused speculation as to whether or not she would return later this series, there may be other avenues for Missy to return. One of which, if Gomez were to get her way, would be in a spinoff where we could follow the misadventures of Missy as she travels about according to her whims.
This is a concept that Gomez has seemingly put a lot of thought into. She described what the interior of her TARDIS would look like, the qualifications she would require from a companion and even the ideas of her travelling with either Clara or River Song. Either option would certainly be intriguing, but neither would likely work out well. As Gomez herself said, when discussing the possibility of her and Clara travelling: “I don’t think they’d last a night, and it’s hard to say who’d go first, but I think it’s fairly obvious…”
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As intriguing as the possibility of a spinoff involving Missy would be, one has to wonder if this would be too much of a good thing. Missy is absolutely brilliant, and a wonderful antagonist for the Doctor, however, that is a large part of her charm. In having such a delightfully evil counterpoint to the Doctor, Missy truly shines. Would that same feel be there if she was to have her own show, travelling with her own companion and having separate adventures?
That would be the biggest concern with such a spinoff. While Torchwood, and even the Paternoster Gang could work as separate entities, a great deal of Missy’s identity is tied to the Doctor. While it would be fascinating to watch her put her schemes into motion, and to see the background for her attempts at conquest and control, a spinoff with Missy just does not feel as though the long term appeal would be there.
Missy is certainly an entertaining character on Doctor Who, but her story is too closely related to the Doctor’s for a spinoff to work. In this case, for as much as we love Missy and enjoy her time on screen, less may truly be more.