John Barrowman Makes Shocking Return to 'Doctor Who' as Bisexual Hero

Doctor Who fans were in for the shock of a lifetime yesterday when John Barrowman made a surprise return to the show, nearly a decade after the last time his character had been seen.

Barrowman played Captain Jack Harkness, a Time Agent from the future and the first non-heterosexual character on the iconic show. He first appeared in 2005, alongside the Ninth Doctor, and spent a lot of time traveling with the Tenth Doctor as well. He ultimately got his own spin-off, Torchwood, a slightly darker and slightly more adult time traveling show than Doctor Who, which was notable for basically all the main characters ultimately being sexually fluid.

Torchwood was canceled in 2011 after a season-long move to America, a cast change, and a disappointing departure from how the original show casually and inclusively handled its characters’ sexualities, and that was the last we saw of Harkness, an obvious fan fave.

But yesterday, in a completely unexpected move, Barrowman returned. The Time Agent had a cryptic message for the 13th Doctor, played by Jodie Whitaker: “Beware the Lone Cyberman.”

Barrowman himself kept the whole thing a secret by pretending he was in Cardiff to renovation a flat he owns there, when in actuality he was filming Doctor Who.

“I felt bad but I had to think of something to throw people off the path of what I was doing in Cardiff,” he said. “Because I was being seen all over the place. And people are like ‘Well what are you doing here?’ and I just said ‘Well I’m renovating one of the properties that we have.’”

His Instagram told the same story, where the clever Barrowman even went so far as to hashtag photos #flatrenovation.

“I always want to build that excitement as much as I possibly can,” he added. “I’m going to try and throw people off the path. But nobody guessed! Nobody had a clue.”

It’s unknown whether Barrowman will have any further scenes in this season of Doctor Who, but from his reluctance to address the topic, we can gather that it’s likely. And having the show’s first bisexual character work alongside its first female doctor seems like an absolutely fitting plan for the future of Doctor Who.