Doctor Who

‘The Universe Intervenes’: Doctor Who Star Explains Why Martha Jones’ Return Was Canceled

Former Doctor Who star Freema Agyeman has revealed why a return for her character Martha Jones was scrapped. Martha was the Tenth Doctor’s main companion in Doctor Who‘s third season, where she traveled the world amassing forces to help free humanity from The Master’s enslavement.

Martha was then brought back as part of an all-star team of former Doctor Who companions in season four’s two part finale, where Ten (David Tennant) and Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) called all of their friends together to fight off a Dalek invasion of earth. These episodes saw Martha seemingly being recruited by Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) to join his black-ops team, though full-time appearances in the Torchwood spinoff series never materialized.

Freema Agyeman Explains Why She Never Joined Torchwood Full Time

According to Collider, Agyeman told the real story at MegaCon in Orlando about why Martha’s return in Torchwood’Children of Earth miniseries was scrapped.

I was meant to [return], I don’t know if I’ve said this before, but I was meant to… I was meant to go to Torchwood full-time actually after Doctor Who,” she confirmed. “Then it was delays with all of the writing scripts, other things going on at the time, like contracts… like it was just like… there’s always so much going on. So sometimes we have an idea of what we wanna do and where we’re going, and then the universe intervenes.”

Agyeman had the chance to audition for the UK version of Law & Order so had to make a choice between the two projects.

Freema Agyeman Was Doctor Who’s Second Full-Time Companion Following its 2005 Revival

Agyeman Succeeded Billie Piper When the Latter Left Doctor Who After Two Seasons

Rose with yellow energy flowing through her

Doctor Who‘s Full-Time Companions (2005-Present)
Actor(s) Role
Billie Piper Rose Tyler (Season 1-2)
Freema Agyeman Martha Jones (Season 3)
Catherine Tate Donna Noble (Season 4, 2023 Specials)
Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill Amy and Rory Pond (Seasons 5-7)
Jenna Coleman Clara Oswald (Seasons 7-9)
Pearl Mackie and Matt Lucas Bill Potts and Nardole (Season 10)
Tosin Cole Ryan Sinclair (Season 11-12)
Bradley Walsh (Season 11-2022 Specials)
Mandip Gill Yasmin Khan (Season 11-2022 Specials)
John Bishop Dan Lewis (Season 13-2022 Specials)
Millie Gibson Ruby Sunday (Rebranded Season 1-Present)
Varada Sethu Belinda Chandra (Season 2-Present)

“The opportunity to audition for Law and Order came up, and I am a huge Law and Order fan, and when I found out we were doing it, it was rare that we often adapt American series, it’s often the other way round,” she recalled. “So it was coming to the UK and Dick Wolf was attached and I was like please get me in that room. So that was happening at the same time and as timings go… that came up, and I went in that direction.”

“So sometimes we have an idea of what we wanna do and where we’re going, and then the universe intervenes.”

Agyeman signed on to play junior prosecutor Alesha Phillip on Law & Order: UK and would remain on the procedural drama for three seasons as a full-time cast member. She has since gone on to appear in Netflix’s Sense8 and NBC’s New Amsterdam.

Doctor Who fans ultimately got closure on Martha’s story when she was brought back alongside numerous former companions for Tennant’s sendoff in “The End of Time.” The two-part episode revealed that Martha had married and formed an alien-fighting duo with another of The Doctor’s former companions, Mickey Smith (Noel Clarke).

Fans got some exciting news this week when it was revealed that stars of Doctor Who‘s 2005 reboot – Billie Piper and Christopher Eccleston – were reuniting after 20 years to record new audio adventures for Big Finish. The 12-part audio drama series, which will release in August 2025, will feature The Doctor and Rose encountering “friends and enemies old and new through time and space” in these full-cast episodes, according to Big Finish.

Freema Agyeman First Appeared in Doctor Who in a Completely Different Role

“I am so happy to be back recording more adventures for the Ninth Doctor with Billie,” Eccleston said. “I don’t think my Doctor exists without Rose. He’s a ‘one man, one companion’ kind of alien. We’ve explored him on his own at Big Finish, as a loner. But there’s a resilience and a bravery and a deep empathy to Billie as Rose, that’s why I do this. They complete each other.”

Doctor Who will air its rebranded season 2 later this year on Disney+ in the US and BBC One in the UK.

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