“Jack & River Returns Would Have to be Seismic” – Moffat 

“Jack & River Returns Would Have to be Seismic” – Moffat

Steven Moffat has said that he hasn’t ruled out River Song (Alex Kingston) or Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) returning to Doctor Who but there needs to be a”seismic” story for it to happen.

Speaking to Zap2it Moffat explained: “It’s never, ever closed off. It’s all about ‘Do you have a story that’s worth it?’ Unless you’ve got a story that is absolutely informed and invigorated by their presence, just bringing a character back in an ordinary story won’t do.”

“Both River Song and Jack Harkness are massive characters in ‘Doctor Who’ mythology. Their returns would have to be seismic, not routine.”

He adds: “One of the things you always want to say is ‘leave them wanting more.\'”

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I still really want Psi and Saibra back :P 

so he says they won\'t do it unless it\'s big... and he also says they probably wouldn\'t do a big 10th Anniversary Special for the revived series.  hmmm...

Thinking about Jack again, he was a pretty one dimensional character, good fun, but a bit of a cliche, and a man who can never die will always be a bit of a cartoon comic book type character, good for a "we need all my friends here for the mother of all battles" type of episode, but thankfully that sort of episode doesn\'t happen very often...

River\'s story is told really, it\'s all very timey-wimey of course, but the Doctor is now 900 years older than he was in Name of the Doctor, and it\'s hard to imagine the same chemistry as before.

There are plenty of other interesting characters who appeared fleetingly and never again, many of which have an equal claim for  a reappearance, off the top of my head they would include Jackson Lake, Lake Christina, Canton, Craig, Dorium, Wilf, Psi and Saibra, Perkins etc

Personally I don\'t care about a huge return in itself. I\'m more interested in even just a once off meeting between them and newer Doctors. I was curious to see how Eleven would have behaved around previous "new" who companions (aside from the minor references made in previous episodes) or how Capaldi would react over Jack or River. I think it\'s a bit of a shame that they don\'t do that sort of thing from time to time. IMO it\'d make the show feel more connected (small references only do so much) and help to further highlight some of the differences in personality between Doctors.

I don\'t care how it happens, just make it happen!!!

I never really liked Jack. It\'s not that I hated him, but I never found him particularly interesting. He did seem rather one dimensional. Maybe another appearance would change my mind, but I can\'t see him fitting in with Capaldi\'s Doctor. I think his time on the show may have just passed.

I am vehemently against River returning, because her last appearance in The Name of The Doctor was absolutely perfect. The Doctor finally made it up to her in some way (even if in retrospect it was an extremely small way, considering her own sacrifices) and it was just such a touching moment that I\'d hate for it to be ruined with her returning again. And, like Jack, I can\'t see her really working with the Twelfth Doctor; Eleven was her Doctor and I think her time is done.

A return for Jack, ummmmm. I know most people love him, but, I don\'t know, I  always found him rather one-dimensional and he never clicked for me the way most other companions did. I always felt he was there just to crack a couple of jokes and take of his shirt of and never had any real character development (I haven\'t seen much Torchwood though) So, a no from me.

Disclamer: The author is in no way bigoted against omnisexuals, Americans, men, people from the 51st century

time-agents, immortals and/ or giant heads. Some of my best friends are

Reading the comments below and all I can think is "Why, oh, WHY doesn\'t BF do NuWho???" :\'(

I can\'t really see Jack working with Peter\'s Doctor. Like... nope, doesn\'t work. Same for River, her chemistry with Matt\'s Doctor was so beautiful, I\'m really not sure I would like to see her with Peter, or any other Doctor for that matter. I will say though, both character could very easily appear in a UNIT spin-off or even a Pater Noster Gang spin-off for River (like Martha in Torchwood). We need this spin-off so badly. 

PLEASE BRING BACK JACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just for once, I\'d like to see the pre-Moffat era stuff properly acknowledged... *cough* Jack *cough* Jenny *Cough* Martha

Sounds like he\'s challenging someone to write a Seismic script. I agree however that they shouldn\'t be brought back just for the sake of it :)

I think Captain Jack should come back, just to regain his lost memories but then again they could do that in spin-off material. He could have his own Big Finish series one day and so will River probably.

@Planet of the Deaf  I always liked Nasreen Chaudhry and there is a chance as she is still with the Silurians :)

@Planet of the Deaf Canton. Oh yes, he is long overdue of a comeback. :)

@Status: Stuck in the vortex Torchwood mostly just gives him stuff to angst over tbh.

@YaelMoise I\'m pretty confident that Big Finish would like to do some--Nick Briggs says as much in an interview with Radio Free Skaro--but it\'s not up to them. They only have a license for pre-2005 Who. So, unless the BBC is willing to grant them the license (for a price), only the BBC can do audio adventures.

@YaelMoise If Eccleston didn\'t come back for the 50th anniversary, I don\'t see him doing Big Finish. David Tennant and Matt Smith are far too busy with their own respective career. So... Frankly all they could get would be Tennant\'s companions, I think.

@Clara Bosswald Well, the notion that they wouldn\'t necessarily get along is all part of the fun, IMO. Eccleston and Jack were rather awkward together, but in the most endearing of senses.

@awkwardMEOW (#1 CLARA WHO fan) There have been plenty of references to RTD stuff, but I do agree it\'d definitely be nice to see Jack, Jenny, or Martha again :)

@awkwardMEOW (#1 CLARA WHO fan) What was the Brig in the most recent episode then?

@JFrance River should join Benny in Big Finish. After all, they\'re both space archaeology Professors!

@Clara Bosswald  @YaelMoise "If Eccleston didn\'t come back for the 50th anniversary, I don\'t see him doing Big Finish" Actually, you shouldn\'t rule that out. Chris Eccleston has said a number of times he likes acting in audio dramas. So... maybe. 

@Clara Bosswald  @YaelMoise First of all, I\'m given to understand that the recordings don\'t take all that long, so you COULD theoretically get Smith, Tennant, even Hurt along for them, even with their schedules.

But even if you can\'t, even if that\'s too optimistic, and all we could get is companions... what\'s wrong with that? 

I\'d love stories staring Jack, or River, or any others of the suggestions below. I mean, I generally buy BF audios on a case by case basis, but I would definitely subscribe to a River-centric series, or a Jack one. 

Really, the Doctor isn\'t a must for awesome Doctor Who audios. Hell, Jago and Litefoot weren\'t even companions and I can tell you their series is amazingly good fun. 

Nicholas Briggs is coming on this week\'s Doctor Who: Legacy Twitch podcast and they\'ve asked for questions to ask him to be posted on their FB page. I\'ve posted one about possible New Who stories in the future. Here\'s hoping they ask him about it, Thursday night. 

Actually, if people from here might go there and "like" the question, it might help it along.

@Hibernus I did say I thought they wouldn\'t work. Awkward relationships can be fun, but I just don\'t see this one happening. I could be wrong, maybe it would be great, but it\'s not like I\'m super excited by the prospect.

@Malohkeh @awkwardMEOW (#1 CLARA WHO fan) I think he means RTD era stuff.

@YaelMoise @Clara Bosswald River-centric series... Okay, now you\'re talking.

@Malohkeh @supermoff  @YaelMoise Yeah, I\'m with Verruca Salt on this one. 

@Malohkeh @supermoff  @YaelMoise now now don\'t fuss or no classic who for a month.

@Clara Bosswald  @Hibernus We haven\'t seen it happen yet so no-one can say either way, but like anyone here agrees with a single idea.

@Kermit9 @Malohkeh @awkwardMEOW (#1 CLARA WHO fan) *cough* The Day of the Doctor *cough*

@Clara Bosswald  @YaelMoise That needs to be a thing....

I have a time machine ;) *suddenly gets hit by a fez* hey who keeps doing that?

@Malohkeh @Kermit9 @awkwardMEOW (#1 CLARA WHO fan) David Tennant, The Moment (i.e. Billie), Time War, Queen Elizabeth getting off with 10..., all the Companions mentioned in Lets Kill Hitler etc

Truth be told, the RTD era needed to mentioned quite a lot in Series 5, the transition would have been easier. 

@The Finn, Agent of SPECTRE @Notsosmartguy  @Malohkeh @supermoff  @YaelMoise how do you know?......

the transition between eras is never easy in Doctor Who. In fact, when a Doctor regenerated in the Classic Series ever they made references to elements of its previous incarnation.

@Notsosmartguy  @The Finn, Agent of SPECTRE @Malohkeh @supermoff  @YaelMoise "Finn, I am your father."

@Notsosmartguy  @The Finn, Agent of SPECTRE @Malohkeh @supermoff  @YaelMoise I just know.

@Notsosmartguy  @The Finn, Agent of SPECTRE @Malohkeh @supermoff  @YaelMoise Plot twist...

@YaelMoise @Notsosmartguy  @The Finn, Agent of SPECTRE @Malohkeh @supermoff Somehow I was half expecting that quote! XD

4 Different Types of Companions Doctor Who Should Consider