Jenna Coleman made quite an impression as the various incarnations of Clara Oswald on Doctor Who. However, that was not the first role on the show for which she auditioned.
For a time on Doctor Who, seemingly anywhere that the Doctor turned, he found an incarnation of Clara Oswald. She was virtually everywhere, appearing throughout his timeline and — even without his direct knowledge — helping to protect him through his journeys. Perhaps that is why he, almost immediately, came to regard her as a trusted confidant and a close friend.
However, there was almost another layer to that relationship. Jenna Coleman had auditioned for the role of Mels, Amy and Rory’s best friend growing up and, as we came to find out, the previous incarnation of River Song. As we know, she ultimately did not get the role. Imagine, if you will, if she has, with the added factor of Mels being the same person as Clara. It would certainly have added another wrinkle to the story.
It would have been an interesting twist, one fitting with Moffat’s manner of storytelling. With the Twelfth Doctor taking on the face of Lucius Caecilius Iucundus, it may be that Time Lords can choose the faces of others for their own reasons. In the case of the Twelfth Doctor, it was to help him remember. If Coleman had been granted the part of Mels, it could have been possible that the same thought process would have applied.
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Just as Clara had, for millennia, helped the Doctor along behind the scenes, she may have done the same with the young River, at least by association. It may not have even been noticed, with River subconsciously choosing that face during her younger years as she wanted a way to remember someone who helped through a difficult period.
On the other hand, imagine if she had only been Mels. Who would have been the Doctor’s companion after the Amy and Rory left? Would they have been Clara with a different actor portraying her, or would they have been an entirely different character?
But none of those scenarios ever came to pass. Coleman ended up being passed over for the role of Mels in favor of Nina Toussaint-White, the former ending up as the Doctor’s companion and a recurring character for three and a half seasons. If she was only to have that one role on the show, it certainly worked out well for her. Although, as Capaldi and others have proven, actors can come back in different roles.
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