Maisie Williams will be back in Doctor Who this series, writer Sarah Dollard has confirmed. Speaking to an audience at MCM London Comic-Con, the writer said:


It’s possible Maisie will be back in episode 10.

Understand that Dollard was being coy. Steven Moffat prompted Dollard to give her answer, it was greeted as a major reveal and we were asked to keep schtum until tonight’s episode had aired. Dollard has subsequently confirmed the news on Twitter. Ashildr’s return is more than ‘possible’, it’s a sure thing.

Dollard has written episode 10, Face the Raven, which Moffat’s official episode guide describes as follows:

“There have always been rumours. Stories passed from traveller to traveller, mutterings about hidden streets, secret pockets of alien life right here on Earth.”

Have you ever found yourself in a street you’ve never seen before? The next day, could you not find that street again? You weren’t dreaming. Your memory isn’t playing tricks. Like many lost souls throughout the ages, you have stumbled on an extraordinary secret – be grateful you survived it. The Doctor and Clara, with their old friend Rigsy, find themselves in a secret alien world, folded away among the streets of London. Not all of them will get out alive. One of the three intruders must face the raven…

At the end of The Women Who Lived, Ashildr described herself as the patron saint of the Doctor’s leftovers, looking after the people he leaves behind, and that photo at the end revealed she was definitely hanging around in modern day England.

Speculating wildly, it’s possible Ashildr already knows Rigsy (Jovain Wade), making contact after his encounter with Clara and the Doctor in Flatline last series. Alternatively, she could be some sort of ambassador between humanity and these hidden enclaves of alien life, concealed in the heart of our cities.


Whatever the reason, we’re glad the Viking/highwaywoman is returning. Let’s just hope she remembers her name this time.