Doctor Who companions may stay on after Jodie Whittaker leaves

A new season of Doctor Who premieres this Sunday, October 31. Naturally the first episode will be a Halloween special. I feel bad for new companion Dan Lewis (John Bishop); who knows what kind of extraterrestrial creepy crawlies he’s going to encounter?

That said, in the first clip from the premiere episode, all he has to deal with is a trick or treater who’s way too old to be going door to door. Something tells me things will get more intense by the time the night is over.

John Bishop is in an interesting position, since he’s joining the show as a companion just as current Doctor Jodie Whittaker is planning to leave the show. Does that mean he’ll only appear in this one season, or might Dan Lewis also join the Fourteenth Doctor whenever he or she comes around?

“I think the official line is you say you don’t know, but I genuinely don’t know,” Bishop told the Radio Times. “In some ways, this was so good I wouldn’t want to risk trying to do it again. I just feel so lucky to have had that time with those people.

"But also, if someone phones and says Dan Lewis has got a place with the new Doctor, you think… it’s a conversation to be had, isn’t it?"

Mandip Gill (Yaz) will “never say never” to more Doctor Who

Then there’s Mandip Gill, who plays companion Yaz. She’s been traveling with the Doctor for a couple of seasons now. Will she exit along with Whittaker?

Once again, it seems like an open question. Gill said that she would “never say never” when it came to her future on the series, and that she’s excited about original showrunner Russell T. Davies returning for season 14. Who wouldn’t want to stay on to work with the guy who revived the show back in 2005? “For me, it’s so exciting and a relief to know it’s going on in safe hands,” she said.

"When I started, I didn’t realize how significant it was taking over from other people, but now it’s happening to me. You’re not part of it, in that you don’t know what’s happening. Who are the companions? What are they going to do? I’m going to watch it, be nosey and think, ‘How’s it different to ours?’"

So things are up in the air. We’ll have a better idea of where the chips are going to fall when the first episode of Doctor Who: Flux airs this Halloween!

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.

Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels