Doctor Who: Could a Male Companion Replace Clara?
By David Hill
One of the fun topics of speculation among Doctor Who fans is the matter of who will take over from Jenna Coleman once her time as the Doctor’s companion ends this season. While she may return in some facet as one of the many Clara splinters, Coleman’s time aboard the TARDIS is over.
So, who will follow in her footsteps? As we have come to learn over the past season plus, it takes a specific type of person to keep from earning the ire and derision of the Twelfth Doctor. While this incarnation of the Doctor and Clara have become friends, and that there now exists a level of trust that had not been there previously, it may be time to take the Doctor/companion dynamic in a different direction.
One possibility that has come up would be to replace Clara with a male companion. That would certainly shift the dynamic on Doctor Who, as the new incarnation has had the male Doctor with his female companion. It is an idea that Mark Gatiss, when asked about it, called “very interesting.”
While Gatiss also stated that he likes the “boy/girl partnership from way back when,” Doctor Who is a program that embraces constant change. The main characters never stay the same, as the Doctor periodically regenerates and the companions change on a somewhat frequent basis. Yet, the gender roles on Doctor Who have remained relatively static in the new incarnation.
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This is something that has begun to shift. With Missy joining Doctor Who during Series Eight as the Master regenerated, we now have an opening where the specific gender roles may not define the characters. If the Master can become female, then why not have a female Doctor at some point? Or, perhaps, a return to a male companion, and one that is not just the romantic interest of the primary companion?
It certainly is not as though the Doctor has never travelled with a male companion. Even in the new incarnation, Rory Williams could certainly be considered a companion in his own right. Yet, to have a companion that would invoke the memories of the days of Ian Chesterton, Steven Taylor, or even Adric, would certainly be a welcome change in direction.
Yes, as Mark Gatiss said, it would be very interesting to see a male companion as the Doctor’s sole partner in his travels. Yet, that may be a direction that Doctor Who needs to explore when it comes time to select the Doctor’s next companion.