Doctor Who showrunner, and co-writer and Head Honcho on The War Between the Land and the Sea, Russell T Davies, says Jemma Redgrave is “absolutely phenomenal” in the closing credits of the show’s finale.

This does, of course, imply that Kate (Lethbridge-)Stewart makes it out alive.

Davies explains:

“Sometimes it’s hard to write for Kate in Doctor Who, because there’s constantly someone there upstaging her [meaning the Doctor]. So this is an opportunity to bring her into the centre of the story. And she really is put through the mill, as much as Barclay and Salt. In some ways, this is a three-lead show, because Kate suffers, fights, and finds her own victories in extraordinary ways.

“Just keep watching till the very last second, even as the credits start to roll at the end, because she’s absolutely phenomenal.”

Anyone who’s seen the latest episodes of the Doctor Who spin-off will know how Kate’s suffered…

We do get to see more sides of Kate than have been on show in Doctor Who recently — she was nicely fleshed out in, say, The Zygon Inversion, but limited screentime has meant she’s been spurting out clunky remarks about mankind being the Doctor’s children. The War Between the Land and the Sea gives her some much-needed attention.

CultBox notes that Kate might be joined in the final scene by someone previously unseen in the programme, as Davies previously wrote:

“Shooting a mini-series as one block brings its own challenges. Normally, five episodes would be broken down into two or three blocks, filmed roughly in order. But this is all one big block, so an actor could appear for the first time in the very last scene of the very last episode (and indeed, someone does) but we could need them to shoot tomorrow.”

It’s certainly intriguing. Might we see the Doctor? If so… which incarnation?! Or maybe another UNIT member we’ve not seen in a while. Or, I don’t know, perhaps a Cyberman or something.

We’ll see. The War Between the Land and the Sea concludes, in the UK at least, this Sunday.