Summary

• River Song's story continues post-death in a new audio series, exploring her life in an artificial body in the far future.
• Alex Kingston's return as River Song opens up new possibilities for her character's future in Doctor Who.
• Big Finish's new line of audio dramas allows River Song to break free from the confines of her messy timeline with the Doctor.

A new Doctor Who audio series will explore River Song's fate beyond the events of her death, confirming Alex Kingston's return to the Whoniverse. Kingston made her first appearance as the companion and later wife to the Doctor in season 4's two-part adventure "Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead." While later appearances fleshed out her complicated relationship with the Time Lord, the Doctor Who companion marked the end of her story, as River sacrificed her life to prevent the Doctor from wasting his own to save the visitors trapped in the Library's computer core.

While Doctor Who season 14 begins in May, the Time Lord's wife opens a new chapter in her life as Big Finish announces The Death and Life of River Song, a brand-new line of audio dramas led by Kingston. Beginning with the first box set, "Last Words", the series picks up after the events of her season 4 debut, as River finds herself temporarily in a new artificial body in the far future. In the statement below, Kingston revealed her surprise and excitement about the direction Big Finish has taken the character:

“We have gone post-Library! We’ve done another episode in the past where I was within the database, which I loved, and I thought that’s the only way you could go forward with River, given her situation. So, I was actually really surprised when this box set came my way, and that we are now so far advanced in the history of Earth that she is able to be brought out as data and put into a cloned body. So very, very clever!”

River's Post-Death Story Opens Up A New Era For The Character

Kingston Previously Proposed The Idea Of River Song Being In An Artificial Body.

As such, a new status quo could be explored should creator and returning series writer Steven Moffat wish to pair River with Gatwa's Fifteenth Doctor.

Though Kingston may have been surprised by her return in Big Finish's ongoing Doctor Who adventures, the star had previously suggested ways that River could return to the television series with a similar premise. Kingston proposed River could become an entity that could hack her way through the digital realm of the universe, appearing on screens and devices to help the Doctor. While stating her new body is temporary may hint that Kingston's pitch could become a reality, her official return may hold a more interesting prospect for her future.

River and the Doctor's adventures were limited by their messy timeline. The majority of their remembered adventures would be with Matt Smith's Eleventh Incarnation, while she would spend years in Darillium with Peter Capaldi's Twelfth Doctor. The Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) would be the final incarnation she met before her death. With Big Finish exploring the archaeologist's post-Library revival, potential new stories are free from the confines of their diaries and fixed points. As such, a new status quo could be explored should creator and returning series writer Steven Moffat wish to pair River with Gatwa's Fifteenth Doctor.

With her connection to the Doctor and complicated history, River Song stands out among other Doctor Who companions. Though her debut story could have left her among Doctor Who's many unsolved mysteries, Moffat instead chose to dedicate a good portion of the revival era to weave a complex web that kept viewers engaged, endearing them to River as her life story unfolded outside its chronological order. As such, this new chapter promises a previously unexplored direction for the character.

While Doctor Who season 14 will debut on Disney+ for international audiences and BBC iPlayer for UK viewers on May 10 and 11 respectively, Kingston's own Doctor Who adventures can be found on Max.

Source: Big Finish