Sound a national day of mourning as Whovians around the world curl up into little balls of depression, and schoolkids sob beneath their duvets. It’s official: Karen Gillan is leaving Doctor Who next year. The partnership that launched Matt Smith’s time in the TARDIS is about to be severed, and guess what? Arthur Darvill is leaving as well.

Yes, wimp-turned-action-hero Rory Williams (aka Mr. Pond) is leaving too. Well, as a husband and wife team, that kind of makes sense. But will they be leaving the TARDIS on a high note? Not according to showrunner Steven Moffat, who says that:

The final days of the Ponds are coming – that story is going to come to a heartbreaking end

Emphasis on heartbreaking, prehaps? Let’s face it, Rory has already died more times that we can count. Although there’s probably a geek out there with a “Rory’s Deaths” chart scrawled on his bedroom wall. With the long and complicated timeline between the Ponds and The Doctor, you can be sure it’ll be a messy breakup. There’s just no word on how this story will end, although Karen Gillan has previously said that she’d prefer for her character to die so that there’s no chance of her returning and undermining her big emotional departure.

Death would be an option. I don’t want Amy to pop up again every so often, because for me it would take away from the big, emotional goodbye. Once she’s gone, she’s gone. I want people to remember the Amy Pond era as a good one.

However, we’re hearing that Gillan and Darvill will feature heavily in the next season of the show, but they’re expected to leave in the mid season leaving the way open for a new companion.

According to Ian Wylie, Matt Smith spoke of the forthcoming changes at a screening of the Doctor Who Christmas episode tonight, and reminded viewers that the show is all about change and regeneration. So, while we’re all busily speculating on the end of the “Pond era”, we can also look forward to the excitement of speculating on who the new companion might be and who the actor/actress might be.

As you can imagine, many fans are keen on the idea of James Corden’s character Craig Owens making a return as a companion. We’d love to hear what you think – are you devastated by the news that Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill are leaving or are you excited for the changes?