From her debut in series 7, Clara Oswald (as played by Jenna Coleman) has been Doctor Who‘s Impossible Girl, a mystery character who many thought was more a cipher than a real person (though I would heartily disagree). At the end of series 9, after accepting her fate at the hands of a death raven, Clara gets a reprieve of sorts and flew off in her own diner-shaped TARDIS with the immortal and amoral Ashildr/Me (Maisie Williams). A good send-off for a good character, I thought, but it would appear that Clara won’t be gone forever–according to star Peter Capaldi (via Entertainment Weekly).

The Twelfth Doctor himself made the rounds at fan festivals over the weekend at both Dallas Fan Expo and Awesome Con in Washington DC. Coleman and Michelle Gomez made their way to the former as well, but it was at the latter that Capaldi made his fateful slip of the tongue. When asked if the Doctor has truly forgotten Clara, he responded “I’m not sure how successfully Clara was able to wipe his mind.” He then caught himself… “I just… I was about to tell you something I can’t tell you.” This obviously was not allowed to stand by the frothing Awesome Con crowd, so he followed it by saying, “I just shot something that Clara was still there in.”

Woooooooo, now that is a pretty big spoiler P-Cap just let slip. However, if you’re thinking Clara will be back for any significant amount of time, you should slow your temporal roll. Series 10 of Doctor Who–which will see the debut of Pearl Mackie as new companion Bill–just started production this week, so if Capaldi shot anything with Clara, it’s probably either a flashback, OR, much more likely, it’s for a scene in the spinoff series Class which takes place at Coal Hill School, where Clara used to teach. That show is in production now, and was a few weeks back when Capaldi must have shot the thing.

So is it possible we’ll see Clara again, maybe in the Christmas special? Who can say? It could be like when Matt Smith appeared briefly in Capaldi’s first episode. But, I think it’s much more likely it’ll be for Class, which will actually air this year before Christmas.

What do you think, Whovians? Are you ready for one more hurrah with Clara? Let us know in the comments below!

Image: BBC

Kyle Anderson is the associate editor and the resident Whovian for Nerdist. Follow him on Twitter!