Doctor Who’s ninth series begins in two short weeks, and to help fans prepare themselves for what’s to come the BBC has released a trailer and synopsis for the first episode. Beginning with creepy hands emerging from the ground and ending with a Dalek calling for “maximum extermination”, the trailer sets fans up for an action-packed beginning to the new series. It also shows Missy passing a confession dial to Clara, telling her it contains the “last will and testament of the Doctor”.

The episode is called “The Magician’s Apprentice”, and it is the first of a two-part premiere. Written by showrunner Steven Moffatt, it looks like it will feature Missy (Michelle Gomez) and Clara (Jenna Coleman) teaming up to find the Doctor (Peter Capaldi), who is again missing when Earth needs him most. From BBC’s official synopsis:

Where is the Doctor? When the skies of Earth are frozen by a mysterious alien force, Clara needs her friend. But where is the Doctor and what is he hiding from?

As past deeds come back to haunt him, old enemies will come face-to-face, and for the Doctor and Clara survival seems impossible.

Earlier this summer Capaldi said that the Doctor was going to be put in a “conflict that is central to his being” and that the series would begin with the doctor “about to make a mistake that has cataclysmic repercussions”.  Could this be the reason for his disappearance?

In other Doctor Who news, Australia’s ABC network released an overall synopsis for the entire ninth series:

The highly anticipated ninth series of Doctor Who explodes onto ABC TV and it promises to be one hell of a journey.

During this electrifying new 12-part series, the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) is joined by Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman) for time travel on a cinematic scale. Having the time of their lives, the pair meets new and old monsters, and embark on a journey that takes them to deadly alien planets, creepy underwater bases, Viking villages, a global Zygon uprising, and which leads them through hidden alien dens to the very end of time itself.

Plus, the Doctor will come face-to-face with Missy (Michelle Gomez), a city of Daleks, deadly mercenaries called the Mire, terrifying ghosts, and far more.

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As previously announced, taking up guest roles in the new series are rising young star Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones), and comedian and award-winning writer Reece Shearsmith (An Adventure in Space and Time, The League of Gentlemen). Plus UNIT are back with Jemma Redgrave and Ingrid Oliver (Osgood) also returning for series nine. Also confirmed for guest appearances are Rebecca Front, Rufus Hound, Paul Kaye, Joivan Wade and Sophie Stone.

The ninth series has been written by lead writer Steven Moffat, Toby Whithouse, Jamie Mathieson, Peter Harness, Mark Gatiss, and new writers, Sarah Dollard and Catherine Tregenna; and directed by Hettie Macdonald, Daniel O’Hara, Ed Bazalgette, Daniel Nettheim, Justin Molotnikov, Rachel Talalay; and produced by Tracie Simpson, Derek Ritchie, Nikki Wilson and Peter Bennett.

“The Magician’s Apprentice” will air on Saturday September 19 at 8:30 p.m.