10 Doctor Who Facts Most Fans Don't Know

6. Captain Jack Was Almost Beheaded To Become The Face Of Boe

Doctor Who Eleventh Doctor Captain Jack Harkness
BBC Studios

Despite what John Barrowman may have said in later years, Steven Moffat did want to bring Captain Jack back to Doctor Who during his tenure as showrunner.

When the Doctor and Rory set out to rescue Amy from Madame Kovarian in A Good Man Goes To War, the Doctor assembles a formidable team to assist them, and originally, Captain Jack was supposed to be in that team, alongside Madame Vastra, Strax, Jenny, and a fashionably late River Song.

The only issue was that John Barrowman was busy making Torchwood: Miracle Day, and was unable to appear in Series 6's midseason finale. To fill the gap left by Jack, Moffat brought back Dorium Maldovar.

Dorium has a pretty brutal end, decapitated by the Headless Monks and forced to live the rest of his life in a box. This fate was originally to befall Captain Jack, which would've set up his transformation into the Face of Boe further down the line.

Jack's eventual fate was first teased at the end of Doctor Who Series 3, by a characteristically mischievous Russell T Davies. For now, the nature of the transformation will remain ambiguous.

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