Doctor Who may have skipped out on SDCC 2019 and won’t return until 2020, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot to look forward to in season 12.
There are currently rumors floating around about an episode featuring Frankenstein author Mary Shelley in the upcoming season. While there has been zero confirmation from the BBC, it is fun to wonder how Thirteen, Ryan, Graham, and Yazmin could interact with the famed writer and what might happen to inspire her gothic fiction.
Last season paired the TARDIS team with Rosa Parks in a powerful and generally well-received episode and there have been past episodes that featured historical figures like Madame de Pompadour, Charles Dickens, and Agatha Christie among others.
So, fans can help but think about which historical women would pair well with Thirteen and her fam. There are obvious answers like Harriet Tubman among many, many great women, but these women would certainly make for interesting one-off companions to The Doctor:
Harriet Chalmers Adams
Adams was an explorer, photographer, and lecturer in the early 1900s who crossed Haiti on horseback, reported during World War I, and traveled thousands of miles through various countries while witnessing harrowing things and going places that other women wouldn’t dare go.
So, it would absolutely make sense for Harriet to run into The Doctor at some point during her explorations and get wrapped up in an Earth-bound adventure. She has the curiosity and fearlessness that The Doctor respects and, like The Doctor, is a wanderer with a purpose.
Hatshepsut
Imagine The Doctor traveling back to witness this Egyptian woman pharaoh in all her glory. She defended her power, oversaw massive trading expeditions, and built an ambitious legacy during her reign. Her appearance could be a great way to tie back into the show’s roots of being an educational program and also give an interesting twist to history.
And, it would be interesting to see how Thirteen and Hatshepsut would interact with each other as well as the crew reacting to the world thousands of years before their time.
Judy Garland
Garland’s iconic role in The Wizard of Oz and all of the conspiracies around the movie’s filming is perfect fodder for a Doctor Who story. Thirteen totally seems like she would be a fan of the movie and invent a nonsense reason to find her way onto the set to investigate a rumor.
Perhaps there could be real flying monkeys that are trying to harm the cast or there really is an Oz-like place that is somehow connected to the set. It would be a way to explore what Garland was like behind-the-scenes and for the grew to let her know that her legacy would live on for many generations to come.
And, Thirteen wouldn’t miss a chance to skip down the yellow brick road because it seems really fun.
Jane Austen
This appearance would be great for several reasons. First, there could be a nice callback to Clara’s claims that she kissed the Pride & Prejudice writer as some point during her travels. And, if her personality was anything like her work, she could bring a nice dose of humor and realism into this otherwise wacky world that The Doctor exists in.
It would be interesting to see her wander into the TARDIS somehow and end up on another planet or even in modern-day England to see how the world has changed – and how she changed the world, too.
Amelia Earhart
This might be the greatest idea of all-time. Amelia Earhart’s impact as a pilot and her mysterious disappearance has conjured up many theories, myths, and outrageous claims about the final days of her life.
But, what if she somehow accessed another dimension and somehow survived her flight? Perhaps she found a place and got stuck there or decided that she wanted to stay. Or, maybe she really did somehow assume another identity or gave her life to save the world without anyone knowing.
There are a lot of respectful directions that the show could go with her story and it honestly would be enthralling to see such a mysterious icon portrayed in the series. Thirteen and Amelia are both known for being brilliant, charismatic, and innovative, so they would certainly hit it off right away.
Chevalier d’Eon
Chevalier d’Eon may not be a familiar figure to most American audiences, but her story is indeed enthralling and filled with twists. By historic accounts, d’Eon was assigned male at birth and operated in the world as such, becoming a French diplomat, soldier, and spy in the mid to late 1700s.
When she returned to France later on, she declared that she had been born a female and lived life as a male in order to secure a family inheritance.
She became a noblewoman but later tried to assemble an all-woman battalion to fight the British, was jailed, and later wrote feminist works in London. Upon death, d’Eon’s autopsy said she had “male organs” and misgendered her on the death certificate, which likely means she was a trans woman.
d’Eon made her mark in the Big Finish audio world, where she was portrayed as more genderfluid, but it would be incredible to have this fascinating person onscreen with Thirteen as fans get to know about her complicated life and epic adventures. Plus, The Doctor can always use a clever spy and a little bit of physical power on her side, right?