Everything we know about the new ‘Doctor Who’ season

Are you emotionally prepared for some brand new Doctor Who news straight from the BBC? Series 9 (aka, the 9th season for those of us stateside) will air sometime later this year, and filming for the new episodes is already well underway. Now, usually series czar/master of our emotions Steven Moffat, is pretty tight lipped with info from the set. But this time he has brought a few things to our attention and they are pretty great.

At the end of Series 8, the Doctor’s companion, Clara, has her fate up in the air. But in the 11th hour of the episode, “Death in Heaven,” it is confirmed that she’ll be returning once again to travel in the TARDIS. Phew. Just saying this to reiterate the fact that Clara will remain on the show and be ok.

Also, the first two episodes of Series 9 are actually slated to be a two-part episode, and their titles are “The Magician’s Apprentice” and “The Witch’s Familiar.” Moffat wrote both episodes, and they’ll be directed by Hettie MacDonald, who also directed “Blink” (aka, the episode which first introduced the Weeping Angels, like you could seriously ever forget them, since they’re still haunting your dreams). Basically, be prepared for every single emotion to overcome you throughout the course of these two episodes.

Also for the first two episodes, Michelle Gomez’s Missy will be back, even though she presumably died in the Series 8 finale. Moffat has hinted at her not-dead-yet state for a while now — even telling Digital Spy that, “The Master is never dead, no matter what happens to him or her. She’s entirely unzappable!” — but now it’s officially 100% confirmed. She even recorded a very tongue-in-cheek reveal video for the occasion. Be prepared for her to butt heads with The Doctor once again.

But wait, there’s more! Jemma Redgrave will reprise her role as Kate Lethbridge Stewart, along with Kelly Hunter, Clare Higgins and Jaye Griffiths, who have all previously appeared in Doctor Who episodes. They’ll be featured in the first episode back — “Magician’s Apprentice” — and I imagine Moffat and Co. still have plenty of other surprises up their sleeves. This is only the beginning of all the Doctor Who goodness set to come our way.

I know this seems like a lot to keep track of, but all of this only means that we’re inching closer to brand new Doctor Who episodes. No date has been given for the release of Series 9 yet, so we’ll continue to sit, and wait, and speculate in the meantime.

Image via here.