The ancient and eccentric protagonist of British sci-fi show “Doctor Who” can travel through time at will, but unfortunately that ability doesn’t extend to us; we can’t hop into a blue box that’s bigger on the inside to find out where Matt Smith’s co-stars, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill, will be a year from now – but the two did offer some hints at the first official Doctor Who Convention over the weekend.

It’s no secret that their characters, Amy Pond and Rory Williams respectively, will be leaving in the fifth episode of the programme’s upcoming seventh season, and we already know that their “role” of sorts as the Doctor’s companion will be filled by “Emmerdale” star Jenna-Louise Coleman, but where the actors will go from here has remained something of a mystery.

“They’ve become two of my closest friends,” lamented the Doctor himself, Matt Smith. “First and foremost, I’ll miss the creative relationship, because it’s brilliant; we really know how to press each others’ buttons. Whenever one of us is bored on set, we find one of the other two and irritate them, and to be able to become close enough to do that is relatively rare, isn’t it?”

“I’d definitely love

to do more sci-fi

… it’s really fun”

Karen Gillan

Amy Pond

“I’m slightly worried about going to find other things just because of the way we’ve been interacting with each other, and the way we know how to keep each other entertained,” Arthur agreed. “I think if we started doing that with other people on other jobs, they’d think we’re mental.”

Arthur also stated an interest in further feature film acting, having previously taken roles in productions like “Pelican Blood”, calling the filmmaking experience “the closest thing” to having worked on “Doctor Who”. Both he and Karen Gillan also expressed an interest in returning to the sci-fi genre.

“Oh, I’d definitely love to do more sci-fi,” Karen said. “It’s really fun […] I want to be an alien, maybe!” (Her input was perhaps inspired by Arthur’s “I’d love to come back as a monster” - and cued Moffat joking that she can be a Dalek that’s facing the wrong direction.)

Of course, next on the cards for Karen is indie Scottish rom-com “Not Another Happy Ending”, which is currently seeking some fan funding over the Internet via crowdsourcing website Indiegogo in advance of its Glasgow shoot. “I’m really looking forward to it,” she said. “It’s good that stuff’s being made up there that isn’t about drug use or fighting the English.”

The pair’s departure from “Doctor Who” is scheduled to be shot on location in New York very shortly; you can read more about that in our other article here, and find out more about the Doctor Who Convention coverage on our dedicated event page here, from which you can also find the rest of complete coverage.