Doctor Who: John Barrowman Teases Captain Jack Return After New Year’s Special

The upcoming Doctor Who: Revolution of the Daleks, which is set to premiere in just a few hours on New Year’s Day, will also mark the return of none other than John Barrowman to the franchise as Captain Jack Harkness. His character was last seen in a surprise cameo in the Doctor Who Season 12 episode “Fugitive of the Judoon,” marking his first time appearing in the series in over a decade and since the Torchwood series finale in 2011. Barrowman’s appearance in the holiday special will be a full one, but when asked in a new interview if they’re setting up a larger role for him in the series, Barrowman claimed he wasn’t sure.

“I have no idea, you’ll have to talk to the producers,” Barrowman said when asked by RadioTimes if a recurring part was in the cards. “I’ve always said, if I’m asked I will do it at the drop of a hat – I will happily come back to the TARDIS any time I am asked. Except I’ll be grey-haired now, so we have to work that into the plot, that something happened to Jack’s hair! Or they’ll dye it – they can sort it out. But I don’t know what the future holds. We have to wait and see.”

Barrowman also opened up about keeping his return secret, which wasn’t revealed to the world until months after it was filmed.

“The ploy was, as it was the first time, when I filmed the cameo in Bristol, that I was re-doing our flat in Cardiff,” Barrowman added. “So I just continued to say I was there re-modelling my flat. And also I was doing Dancing on Ice at the time. So it all fitted in perfectly. I just wasn’t able to tell anybody! No-one was…I wasn’t able to say anything to anybody, and there was only a couple of people who knew.”

“Revolution of the Daleks” will air on BBC AMERICA on January 1st, New Year’s Day. The season 12 finale left things on a cliffhanger as Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor was left behind, locked away in an eternal prison and her fate unknown. The upcoming Christmas special will primarily focus on the Doctor’s best friends Yaz (played by Mandip Gill), Ryan (played by Tosin Cole) and Graham (played by Bradley Walsh) as they work to keep their lives going in her absence. They’ll soon discover though that a disturbing plan forming involving one of the Doctor’s biggest and most feared enemies – the Daleks – is a foot.