Mirror, Mirror

Somewhere out there, in the far, distant multiverse, is an alternative timeline where Jenna Coleman didn’t make her Doctor Who debut as companion Clara Oswald, but as Melody Pond in the 2011 episode Let’s Kill Hitler. That’s right – Jenna Coleman was nearly an incarnation of River Song.

The actress dropped the revelation at Canada’s FanExpo convention, where she was appearing on a special panel alongside former companion Karen Gillan – AKA, Amy Pond. Following a fan question regarding Melody (what life would have been like for her if she wasn’t abducted at Demon’s Run), Coleman sprung to life, her memory obviously jolted:

“I’ve got good gossip! Did you know… that I auditioned for Mels? That’s one part I didn’t get and my grandmother was so upset…”

“Thank god you didn’t get that!” replies Gillan, “because then you would have…” She trails off, interrupted, but it’s probably not a stretch to assume that she going to say something about her then not being able to land the bigger role of Clara Oswald. Not that a past appearance in Doctor Who hurt Gillan’s chances, of course. Or Peter Capaldi’s.

Soothsayer

Adeola Oshodi, a Torchwood Institute employee.

Or even

Maxil of The Chancellory Guard on Gallifrey

And certainly not…

A 2nd Doctor!

Mels went on to be played by Nina Toussaint-White. It was a brief role: a younger incarnation of River Song who had become childhood friends with the Ponds, her parents. Timey-wimey, and so on. Early on in Let’s Kill Hitler, after forcing the Doctor to travel back to 1938 Berlin, she regenerates into the real deal. 

Coleman goes on to say that she never had much faith in ever landing the role – mainly because of her and Gillan’s imbalance of height. 

“I never thought they would have cast us as childhood best mates because the height difference was too much,” she laughs. “I thought, ‘I’m never going to get that part.'”

Funny how things work out, eh? 

And if Coleman had played Mels, then been cast as Clara Oswald would that have added another layer of mystery to “The Impossible Girl” where the Doctor is trying to figure out why she looks exactly like his Wife’s school years incarnation but doesn’t seem to be her?

Or would it have been another way to bring River Song back into WHO, just not Alex Kingston?

Oh, the Time-Wimey of it…