The older bronze Daleks will apparently be making an appearance in the upcoming special despite the introduction of a brand new design.

Doctor Who has confirmed the return of the bronze Daleks with a first-look image from the Doctor Who Christmas special.

While many fans will know that the infamous Doctor Who villains are getting a big make-over for the upcoming special, it looks as though this older model (first introduced in 2005) will also be making an appearance – or at least a cameo.

The show posted a photo of Captain Jack Harness (John Barrowman) and a bronze Dalek on Twitter yesterday, with the caption: “Captain Jack faces the Daleks once again! Get ready for the New Year’s Day special, Revolution of the Daleks.”

While a number of the older Daleks were spotted on Clifton Suspension Bridge during filming last year, this teaser from the long-running BBC show seems to confirm their appearance in the New Year’s Day episode alongside the brand new Daleks, which are sleeker, sturdier and complete with new, glowing layers.

But perhaps we should have expected this doubling up. Speaking to RadioTimes.com in an exclusive interview about Doctor Who’s new Dalek design, showrunner Chris Chibnall said that, while the new Daleks are deliberately different to those we’ve seen before, they don’t completely replace their predecessors.

“You’re never replacing what’s gone before, you’re just adding a new variant,” he said. “You’re just adding to the line of different things that have been done with those, so it wasn’t like we were saying, ‘These will replace the bronze Daleks,’ it’s just this story is about these black and red Daleks which light up at night and do all sorts of things.

“So I think that gives you a little bit more freedom,” he added. “You’re not saying forget all the Daleks you’ve seen before…you’re just saying in this story [it’s these new ones].”

And, apparently, the old ones as well. Sounds like we’re in for quite the Dalek crossover…

Doctor Who: Revolution of the Daleks comes to BBC One at 6:45pm on New Year’s Day.

(With thanks to Radio Times)