<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"Doctor Who stars Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill will be leaving the show during the next series, it has been confirmed.  The actors will depart their roles as The Doctor&amp;#039;s companions Amy Pond and Rory Williams midway through the show&amp;#039;s seventh run in 2012 in what was described as a &amp;quot;heartbreaking end&amp;quot;.   Showrunner Steven Moffat confirmed at a press screening that Matt Smith&amp;#039;s Time Lord will then be joined by &amp;quot;a new friend&amp;quot;, who has yet to be cast. &amp;quot;The final days of the Ponds are coming during the next series,&amp;quot; he said. &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m not telling you when or how, but that story is going to come to a heartbreaking end... Then The Doctor will meet a new friend.&amp;quot; Moffat added that he believes River Song (Alex Kingston) will make a return appearance, though it is unknown if the character will be involved in the couple&amp;#039;s exit storyline.  It has been announced on the official Doctor Who Twitter profile that more details will be revealed tomorrow (December 16).  &amp;gt; Doctor Who Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill&amp;#039;s Amy and Rory exit reaction Smith stated: &amp;quot;The show will miss the Ponds, brilliantly played by Karen and Arthur, but the great thing about Doctor Who is its ability to change. &amp;quot;We had the most incredible journey. We took over the show and we&amp;#039;ve really had to hold hands and help each other through it. &amp;quot;So it&amp;#039;s very disappointing, but one has to remember that this show is about change and regeneration, and that&amp;#039;s what galvanizes it and pushes it forwards.&amp;quot; Watch a video of Amy and Rory&amp;#039;s wedding party from the end of series five below:      Gillan told Digital Spy in August that she expected to be a part of the sci-fi&amp;#039;s seventh run. Addressing Amy and Rory&amp;#039;s potential departure last month, the actress said: &amp;quot;Death would be an option. I don&amp;#039;t want Amy to pop up again every so often, because for me it would take away from the big, emotional goodbye. Once she&amp;#039;s gone, she&amp;#039;s gone. I want people to remember the Amy Pond era as a good one.&amp;quot;  Gillan and Darvill both made their Doctor Who debut as Amy and Rory in the first episode of the show&amp;#039;s fifth series in 2010. Moffat revealed in November that Doctor Who&amp;#039;s seventh series will air next Autumn. Watch the trailer for the upcoming Doctor Who Christmas special - &amp;#039;The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe&amp;#039; - below:  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/doctor-who/news/a356259/doctor-who-karen-gillan-arthur-darvill-to-leave-next-series/>