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Sep 18, 2015 By Christopher Roberts Doctor Who

Jenna Coleman, who plays Clara Oswald, The Doctor’s current companion/traveler in space in time on Doctor Who, has officially announced that she is leaving the show at some point in the new season, which premieres this Saturday at 9 PM on BBC America. Her departure was rumored earlier in the week, but Coleman confirmed the news on BBC Radio 1’s Breakfast Show this morning, saying, “I have left the TARDIS…I have filmed my last scenes.” She said that her and show-runner Steven Moffat have been discussing and working out her departure from the show for other a year now. You can watch video of the interview below.

Moffat has previously revealed that Coleman considered leaving in the last season’s finale and again in the 2014 Christmas Special. There’s no word on when or how she will leave the show, and let’s hope it stays that way. Before the days of the Internet and social media, TV shows could more easily pull off shocking character departures and deaths. These days it’s all spoiled in advance (except for The Good Wife, they still pulled off a completely surprising character death last year).

Coleman first showed up in the season seven premiere episode of Doctor Who, “Asylum of the Daleks,” in 2012 opposite Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor and again in the 2012 Christmas special “The Snowmen.” Midway through season seven she became The Doctor’s main companion and has continued on as Peter Capaldi has taken over as the Twelfth Doctor. Coleman’s chemistry with Capaldi has been palpable and the writing of the interplay and relationship between the two characters last season was very well received. So it’ll be sad to see Coleman go. But no Doctor Who companion sticks around forever and with former Doctor Who actors getting Hollywood movies and U.S. TV shows (Karen Gillan fronted the ABC sitcom Selfie last year and was in Guardians of the Galaxy, Arthur Darvill is starring in DC’s Legends of Tomorrow next year for The CW, Matt Smith will be in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and other Hollywood movies, Billie Piper co-stars on Showtime’s Penny Dreadful, David Tennant is the villain in Marvel’s latest Netflix show Jessica Jones, and John Barrowman has been a regular on The CW’s Arrow and was also in Zero Dark Thirty), it’s natural that Coleman would like to branch out after three seasons in the TARDIS. She’s already announced her next project, playing a young Queen Victoria in a British miniseries for ITV.

Let’s hope Coleman’s departure is a true surprise and an affecting one, but still occurs late enough in the season that we still get quite a few more episodes with her. And now we can look forward to discovering a new companion, which is always fun. Watch the Radio 1 interview below.