Carole Ann Ford Reveals What Could’ve Been the Purpose of Her ‘Doctor Who’ Return

It’s no secret at this point that the latest season of Doctor Who ended with an almighty mess—leaving the series in a state of limbo that has only continued to get messier as time has gone on. One of the first initial signs of that messiness, beyond the content of “The Reality War†itself, was when Disney+ promoted the episode with a promotional image of a scene that was not actually in the final episode, leading fans to wonder if Ncuti Gatwa’s shock exit from the show was not originally intended to be.

Now, a surprising source has seemingly confirmed that that was the case: the Doctor’s granddaughter Susan, aka actress Carole Ann Ford. Speaking recently in conversation with fellow Doctor Who companion Katy Manning at Club Parramatta in Sydney, Australia (via Cultbox), Ford revealed new details about the scene glimpsed in that promotional image of the still-alive 15th Doctor dancing in a club with his seemingly still-current companion, Belinda Chandra.

“You didn’t see the episode, which was to sort of introduce my coming back, where I was holding hands with a little—beautiful little tiny Black child, three years old. And we were watching through the window somewhere where the audience wasn’t supposed to know where we were supposed to be,†Ford explained “And we were watching my newly embodied grandfather, who was now Ncuti [Gatwa], and watching him have a wonderful time singing and dancing in a party in a shop opposite where we were. And obviously I, my character Susan, was longing to just go there and fling her arms around her grandfather and say, ‘Grandfather, how lovely to see you after all this time and how did you survive your floating about in space… and why have you changed?’â€

The child in question appears to be Sienna-Robyn Mavanga-Phipps, the actress who played Poppy—initially introduced as a standalone character in Gatwa’s first season in the episode “Space Babies,†Poppy became a central figure in the 2025 season’s two-part finale “Wish World†and “The Reality War,†where she was wished into being by an alternate reality earth as the Human-Time Lord child of a married Doctor and Belinda.

In the version of “The Reality War†that was broadcast, Susan didn’t appear at all, and Poppy, who was in danger of being erased entirely with the reset of reality, was saved by the 15th Doctor’s sacrifice, kickstarting his regeneration process to change reality enough to allow Poppy to continue to exist as Belinda’s completely human daughter and retroactively establish Belinda’s arc across the prior season as really being about needing to get home to a child that she previously did not have.

Where the arc would’ve gone now seems to be thrown into doubt, given not just that Doctor Who has still yet to be announced as getting a new season any time soon, but also due to the significant changes made to this storyline as eventually broadcast. As to how things would’ve played out, Ford declined to say.

“Anyway, that was unfortunately not to be—for reasons I know and will not disclose,†the actress concluded. Ford’s sole appearance in the season—the first time she had appeared on-screen in Doctor Who since the 1993 charity special Dimensions In Time—would remain as a nebulous vision seen by the 15th Doctor during the events of “The Interstellar Song Contest.â€

While whatever Doctor Who had planned for either Susan or Poppy remains unclear, the only thing with any clarity that has emerged from this season is that things did not go as they were originally planned.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.