‘Doctor Who’: Companion Bill Potts reportedly will leave show after just one season

Peter Capaldi and Pearl Mackie as the Doctor and new companion Bill in "Doctor Who" BBC.co.uk

“Doctor Who” upcoming companion Bill Potts, played by Pearl Mackie, will apparently be axed after just one season. Although her first episode hasn’t even aired yet, the Doctor’s first openly gay main companion is also reported to exit the show with Twelfth Doctor Peter Capaldi.

Twelve’s exit had long been speculated and just recently confirmed by Capaldi himself, who said it was time for him to do other things. And with the Scottish actor leaving after the 10th season with current showrunner Steven Moffat, it’s also reported that Mackie and whoever else will join the Doctor in the TARDIS will be leaving the show as well. This would give incoming showrunner Chris Chibnall a fresh start when he takes over with a new Doctor and new direction in the next season.

And according to the Sun, she will be leaving the show with the Doctor after the season. It is said that the move was a joint decision of Chibnall and the BBC network.

“Bosses have decided to have a completely fresh start,” a source said. “It’s yet to be formally decided but it makes sense to give Chris his own choice of actor to play the Doctor and his companion.”

BBC, on the other hand, has refused to confirm or deny the report. “We never reveal the fate of individual characters on the show; viewers will have to tune in to find out. We are still filming Series 10 and no casting decisions have yet been made on Series 11,” a spokesperson of the network said. Mackie’s rep also declined to comment.

When Moffat took over from then-showrunner Russell T Davies in 2010, he had a new set of actors and characters. The Davies era had Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant as the Ninth and Tenth Doctors respectively, and a handful of companions, including Billie Piper (Rose Tyler), Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones) and Catherine Tate (Donna Noble). All of them had been given their own happy endings in “The End of Time.” This allowed Moffat to start anew with the Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith) and new companions.

Meanwhile, Mackie has recently revealed that her character will be the first openly gay main companion in the show’s history. There were others before her who were also gay and had accompanied the Doctor in his travels, namely Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman), River Song (Alex Kingston) and the married couple Madame Vastra (Neve McIntosh) and Jenny Flint (Catrin Stewart), but she will the first permanent companion to be gay.

“Doctor Who” season 10 will air April 10 in the UK. In Australia, it will air in select theatres on April 16.

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