Peter Capaldi recently let fans in on a little Doctor Who secret, sort of. Clara Oswald could return to the series at some point in the next season.

Last season saw Clara die, but that didn't stop the character from popping back up as the Doctor traveled back to the moment just before her death and pulled her out of time. In the season finale, Clara ran off with the former Ashildr, now known as Me, in her own TARDIS. But as events would have it, Clara got erased from the Doctor's memory.

Speaking at a panel at Awesome Con in Washington, Capaldi, who portrays the Twelfth Doctor, let something slip that suggests we haven't seen the last of Clara, played by Jenna-Louise Coleman.

"I'm not sure how successfully Clara was able to wipe his mind," Capaldi said as he sat with Coleman on stage. "I just ... I was about to tell you something I can't tell you."

That doesn't say much, but then Capaldi let something else slip.

"I just shot something that Clara was still there in," he said.

Although he didn't come right out and say it, fans immediately took that as a sign that Coleman will return at some point to the series. It isn't completely out of the question now that the character is out there traveling through space and time. And this statement could mean a lot of things: perhaps he only referred to the fact that he will eventually remember Clara and their adventures.

There's also another way to take this statement: perhaps Capaldi shot something with Coleman for the upcoming Doctor Who spin-off series Class. The series takes place at the school where Clara teaches, suggesting perhaps its time period is before Clara's death. This is probably the more likely explanation if Capaldi and Coleman appear together again onscreen, as the new season of Doctor Who hasn't officially started filming yet (it begins in two weeks).

Whatever the case, though, fans still have a long wait to find out what Capaldi meant: Doctor Who only gets a single Christmas episode this year with the next season not airing until 2017. And that season will also serve as the last for showrunner Steven Moffat, who will hand over the reins of the series to Chris Chibnall.

Meanwhile, the BBC revealed the Doctor's new companion earlier this year, Bill, as played by actress Pearl Mackie.