New Doctor Who, New (Old) Companion?

So, we recently got the trailer for everyone's favourite new Christmas tradition; Doctor Who. If you've not seen it yet, here's the link. Go on, go watch it. I'll be here when you get back.

Right, watched that? Remember her? She was the (quite frankly; utterly wonderful) Soufflé Girl, Oswin Oswald, from last season's opening episode "Asylum Of The Daleks". A performance that left many people, myself included, saying "Amy who?"

I'm going to assume you've seen the aforementioned episode and I can discuss it further without anyone crying "WAAAAHHH! Spoilers!" at me.

Now, Clara/Oswin's appearance in AOTD came as a real surprise to us, the viewers. Previously we'd been told Jenna-Louise Coleman would be playing the Doctor's next companion, Clara Oswin, after the Pond's departure and that she'd debut in the imminent Christmas episode. Going into the season with this information meant that her appearance so much earlier than expected knocked us off-balance. The dénouement of the episode revealed that not only was she in fact no longer human, and had been converted into  a Dalek, but she then died.

'nuff said

This year's Christmas episode is set in Victorian London, hundreds of years before AOTD, and we have Oswin appearing again, this time as Clara Oswin. The easy and simple explanation is that Clara is Oswin's ancestor. That would be plausible, tidy and neat, wouldn't it? But it wouldn't be fun, and it certainly wouldn't be Moffat enough. We expect more. Smith and Coleman's little exchange regarding her *definitely* playing a different character seems a huge clue.

Stephen Moffat's sinister volcano lair, where he plots Who-fans' torment

So, with that in mind, here's my theory on the new companion and where I think they might be taking the new season...

Each season has a theme, an over-arching plot that threads it's way through the episodes and takes us to the big finale. Previous years had the words Bad Wolf appearing across time and space, two years ago we had Amy's Crack (ho, ho) and last year we had the Doctor's inevitable death.. What if this year's big plot device is the companion herself?

Imagine, if every episode, the Doctor met a Clara/Oswin, in a different time and place? He's already met her in the future. He's about to meet her in the past. Why couldn't the mystery of this woman be the crux for the season? Her existence across time and space could be a threat or even the key to overcoming the real threat. It's too early to say who this season's Big Bad will be. The Daleks seem a safe bet, given the circumstances of Oswin's introduction but somehow they feel a bit overplayed now. Who else is an established Doctor Who adversary that uses time travel? *cough*The Master or the Cybermen*cough*

I might be majorly off-target with this, but wouldn't it be cool if this was where they were going?