Doctor Who is not looking to add a to the ranks of Rory Pond, Mickey Smith, and Jack Harkness.

The BBC series bid farewell to Clara Oswald (Jenna Louise Coleman) at the end of season 9, but when the TARDIS lands for season 10 viewers will get to meet Twelve's (Peter Capaldi) next companion. If you we're hoping that the Scot would get to riff off a male lead, we'll have to be the barer of bad news.

Doctor Who's new companion has already been cast; the TARDIS will welcome another woman to its halls before the year is out.

The casting choice plays into Capaldi's desire to keep the Doctor in on the series pulse-pounding action. The actor was worried that, should a male companion enter the scene, writers would play into the stereotypical male action hero persona and Twelve would miss out on the Doctor's penchant for running around.

"With the best will in the world, I don't want a bloke, because I'm frightened that they'll give him all the action and I'll be standing around spouting scientific gobbledygook," Capaldi told the Radio Times, via The Mary Sue. "'Oh, Peter's not up to chasing those Zygons down the corridor, let the chap do it.' And that would be awful. I want to chase the Zygons!"

As long as Moffat steers clear of saddling the new heroine another fanciful descriptor a la the Impossible Girl or the Girl Who Waited, the NuWho should continue to thrive with its male doctor/female companion formula.

"I think the companion has to be someone who's not so impressed by the Doctor - she's not an assistant, she's not a servant, she can't be that," show rnner Steven Moffat told La Lata TV, via Zap2It. "She has to be someone who really says, 'Are you sure that's the right thing to do? What are you doing?' and also doesn't take him seriously."

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Doctor Who will return to the BBC and BBC America on Dec. 25.

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