River Song Returns for the DOCTOR WHO Christmas Special!

It’s been two years since we last saw Professor River Song on Doctor Who, and even then she was a ghost-computer-thing. This is kinda good news; a lot of fans thought she had overstayed her welcome and by The Name of the Doctor she had fulfilled her role in the show – which is kinda true. Despite that, she’s undoubtedly a fun personality for the Doctor to bounce off and and Steven Moffat evidently enjoys writing for her, which is probably why the BBC revealed this morning that she’ll be returning in this year’s Christmas Special.

“To be honest, I did not know whether River would ever return to the show, but here she is, back with the Doctor for the Christmas special,” said Alex Kingston. “Steven Moffat is on glittering form, giving us an episode filled with humour and surprise guest castings. I met Peter for the first time at Monday’s read through, we had a laugh, and I am now excited and ready to start filming with him and the Doctor Who team. Christmas in September? Why not!”

“Another Christmas, another special for Doctor Who – and what could be more special than the return of Alex Kingston as Professor River Song?” Moffat added. “The last time the Doctor saw her she was a ghost. The first time he met her, she died. So how can he be seeing her again? As ever, with the most complicated relationship in the universe, it’s a matter of time…”

I’m not sure how I feel about this.

On a surface level, it’s cool news. Like I said, River is a fun character and it’ll be interesting to see how she and Peter Capaldi’s Doctor get along and just why they’re running into each other. However, The Name of the Doctor was also a very fitting conclusion to her story. There’s no real need for River to come back (that we know of, anyway). Paint me as cautiously optimistic for now.

Doctor Who will be back on Christmas Day. Interestingly, there wasn’t any mention of Clara in the press release…