Doctor Who: Could Matt Lucas return as Nardole?

Doctor Who star Matt Lucas hints that Nardole’s exit in the season 10 finale may not turn out to be so final after all. 

Big changes are coming to Doctor Who. Thirteenth Doctor Jodie Whittaker – the first woman to ever play the famous Time Lord – will make take over the role this December. But before that can happen, we have to say goodbye to a whole lot of people first.

Outgoing Doctor Peter Capaldi and showrunner Steven Moffat are just the tip of the iceberg.  Most of the other folks associated with the Twelfth Doctor era are also turning in their TARDIS keys.

But it looks like we may not have to say goodbye to one of them forever.

Matt Lucas, who played the Doctor’s sidekick and occasional minder Nardole, recently hinted that he might not be quite done with the Whoniverse just yet. Which means that, while Nardole’s exit appeared pretty final, it might turn out to be.

Lucas’ whole interview with Den of Geek is actually extremely delightful and you should read it if you get a chance, but here’s the money quote on this topic:

"I’m really glad I did it. No regrets at all, only gratitude. I’m not sure my relationship with the show is over, either. But I can’t really go into great detail about that. It remains a big part of my life, let’s put it that way!"

Well, if that just doesn’t sound entirely too purposefully and intentionally vague.

Now, that could mean pretty much anything. Maybe Nardole will pop back up for Twelve’s final adventure at Christmas. It’s possible we could see him again at some point during Thirteen’s run. Or, Lucas could announce a deal with audio producers Big Finish, and Nardole could suddenly appear as part of their latest set of River Song stories.

In short, there are a lot of options.

We last saw Nardole on the Mondasian colony ship in season 10 finale “The Doctor Falls,” where he stayed behind in an attempt to protect the passengers there. (Plus probably build a life with that nice lady Hazran who seemed real into him, and not exactly concerned about the whole robot thing.)

It wasn’t exactly a terrible fate for Nardole — goodness knows Missy got much worse — but his exit still felt fairly final. But it did leave open the possibility that we might see Nardole again at some point. Which wouldn’t even be that weird, given that there’s still plenty of story surrounding him that we don’t know. How did he separate himself from the King Hydroflax body? When did he and River part ways? What even is Nardole, exactly? And how many bodies or lives has he had? These are all things that could provide interesting stories in a variety of formats. But we’ll just have to wait and see.

Next: Doctor Who: Season 11 rumors hint at format changes ahead

Doctor Who returns in December with Christmas special “Twice Upon a Time”.