Doctor Who's new era is a blast, and that's thanks in large part to the bold swings the franchise took in its inaugural season on Disney+. As we await a new season hitting the 2025 TV schedule, the Christmas special on the horizon is set to hold us over, and this update on Alex Kingston's future in the franchise from Russell T. Davies should help as well.
I spoke to RTD and Steven Moffat ahead of the upcoming Christmas Special "Joy To The World," which will be available to stream with a Disney+ subscription on Christmas Day. While answers to questions about that special can't be released until after the episode is live, I did manage to squeeze in the annual asking of when Alex Kingston may return as The Doctor's wife, River Song.
Given The Doctor shared a passionate kiss with Jonathan Groff's "Rogue," I thought there'd be some drama in bringing her back. When I suggested to Davies that maybe the Doctor is polyamorous, his response said it all, sort of:
Right. We go with polyamory, right [laughs].
Hey, when you live for over a thousand years, your ideas on romance might just loosen a bit. I should note that Russell T. Davies' chuckling response was not an official endorsement of this suggestion, although fans are always free to believe what they want. If Steven Moffat's explanation about The Doctor's regenerations wasn't evidence enough, not even Doctor Who's showrunners have all the answers regarding the characters.
Could Alex Kingston's River Song Return?
Russell T. Davies was able to give us some insight into where things stand with River Song, and what her odds of returning to Doctor Who in the future might be. Here's what he had to say, which includes why Rogue was brought in:
I love Alex Kingston. I saw her a while back, and she's amazing. What I love as equally is a new story comes along and just tramples on the bus. You trample, trample one of those bones back there. Oh my God. It's River. I'm sorry [laughs]. That'll always be the case, and someone else will come along and do that, and then we will go back. I was gonna say the door is never closed to Alex Kingston [but] she doesn't recognize doors. There are no doors to that one, which is phenomenal. Whenever you talk about something in Doctor Who it happens. She's genuinely not coming back in the next season, but I wouldn't be surprised if, and when she did when Steven [Moffat] wants to bring her back, that would happen. I adore her and adore that character as well.
River Song will not return in the new season, and no, she's not in Steven Moffat's latest Doctor Who episode, "Joy To The World." The episode will feature Bridgerton breakout star Nicola Coughlan and will once again bring in the longtime villainous organization Villengard into the story. I would say more about the special as someone who has seen it, but in honor of River Song, I'll avoid "spoilers."
I will be excited when Doctor Who brings back River Song, especially after she was not Ruby Sunday's mystery mother. I think I'd most like to see how she'd react to the news that her husband had a fling with Rogue, as short as that passionate kiss was. Will he be in the dog house for cheating, or will she reveal she's also had a few romances since we've last seen her? I think it's fair to say these two have a pretty complicated relationship, so I can't say anything would surprise me.
For now, we can sit back and wait for Christmas day to stream Doctor Who's "Joy To The World" on Disney+. I'm very excited to see what people think of the new special, and how it sets up the next adventure for The Doctor heading into next season.
