It was a role reversal on Doctor Who as the companion, Jenna-Louise Coleman, got to have a say in who would be replacing Matt Smith.

Jenna-Louise Coleman already experienced the intense and clandestine experience that Doctor Who casting can be when she was up for the role of Clara. It’s all codewords, checking cell phones, and signing NDA’s. According to online sources, the code word to refer to the new Doctor is Houdini.

Now the shoe is on the other foot as Coleman gives her input regarding the actors she’s read with. According to Zap2It Coleman stated, “It’s going to be exciting to have a front row seat to the casting because I’ve been on the other side of it quite a lot on different jobs. I’ve never actually been the girl reading with them, so it’s interesting. I like to see lots of different actors do the same scene, and how different they can make it and what they can do.”

The last person who got to bridge Doctors was Billie Piper, who played Rose Tyler. She had to adjust from Christopher Eccleston’s 9th Doctor to David Tennant’s 10th. Fortunately for Coleman, she recently got to meet Piper as they filmed the 50th anniversary special together. The pair got along well, sharing tips for eateries in the Cardiff area. A tip for fans maybe hoping to spot them: they both love a local favorite called Nando’s.

Coleman only had good things to say about Piper, who has been a good chum of Matt Smith’s since they filmed the Sally Lockheart series together a couple of years ago.

“…we just really got on. She’s great to have around. She’s got such a good energy on set as well. We all had special chairs made for us for the 50th. In between takes and stuff like that, we’d sit around and it was just like a big family.”

For fans, it will be interesting to see what the new Doctor and companion dynamic will be. The new Doctor will almost certainly be older than Smith, who is currently 30. Ever since Eccleston left, the Doctor has gotten younger with a 7-year age gap between Eccleston and Tennant and an 11-year gap between Tennant and Smith.