Why I Suspect Karen Gillan is Romana

My insinuation on Twitter that the Doctor's new companion for 2010 will be a Time Lady was half-joking, but of course that means it is half serious.

Karen Gillan, who is 21, will be playing the companion to the Eleventh Doctor, portrayed by Matt Smith, the youngest actor ever in the role at 26. news is weeks old, of course, but it's something that people are still buzzing about. Personally, despite the fact that I know nothing about her except that she's gorgeous, I have some reservations about the casting choice myself. This is for two reasons: First, that I fear a TARDIS full of youngsters will be overpowered by youthful romantic angst and sexual tension, and second that I was hoping that the show would be going in a bold new direction, and a young female companion is hardly that.

But that changes if she's not human.

Maybe it's wishful thinking on my part, but I have a feeling that there's something significant about the fact that we haven't heard anything about what the character's name is yet. Maybe I'm overreacting, but I tend to think that something is being kept from us, that a name would blow wide open. Which is why, to return to the point, I think she might be a Time Lady, specifically one of the two we know.

I'd really be more willing to wildly speculate that it's Romana before Susan. Bringing back the Doctor's granddaughter now, with the youngest Doctor ever, is perhaps a bit too bold. Romana, on the other hand, would be another story. My tweet got a response from @dubbayoo, AKA Chris, one of the hosts of the podcast Radio Free Skaro. "Definitely get a Romana II vibe off her." I agree. And that's not all I'd like to get off her (okay, fine, no more of that). Not only does she seem a fit for the character (pictured at left played by Lalla Ward in the character's second onscreen incarnation), but I think the time is right for Romana to return. That would take the show in a direction it hasn't been in quite some time. The interesting thing about the dynamic between the Doctor and Romana is that, unlike the Doctor's companions from Earth, Romana doesn't need to have everything explained to her by the Doctor. In fact, it's often the other way around. It seems to me that every newly-announced companion is touted as "finally the Doctor meets his equal." Romana would be the only really genuine fulfillment of that promise, and it would be a great way to start the new era of the show off with something truly different from what's come before.

Is this idle speculation, signifying nothing? Probably. Okay, definitely. But regardless of what Karen Gillan turns out to be, I guess I should give her, and Matt Smith, and Steven Moffat, the benefit of the doubt with regard to the show's new beginning. While I'm sure I'll be sad to see the end of the David Tennant/Russell T Davies era this winter, I also can't wait to see what's in store next spring.