When interstellar bounty hunter Rogue (Jonathan Groff) meets the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) in the Doctor Whoepisode "Rogue," he gets more than he bargained for. Not only does he enjoy a full-on romance with the mysterious Time Lord, but he also gets a rare peek at the many faces of the Doctor's past.
Convinced that the Doctor is actually a shape-shifting Chuldur, Rogue is about to teleport his new frenemy to the incinerator when the Doctor makes Rogue's ship do a full scan of the Doctor's own rogue's gallery of faces. A hologram of David Tennant, the Fourteenth Doctor, appears. Then a hologram of Jodie Whittaker, the Thirteenth Doctor. Then William Hartnell, the First Doctor.
And then... Whose face is that? Could it be an old, evil version of the Doctor from the classic show, newly canonized with an official regeneration? And could that ancient evil figure also be the season's Big Bad, a.k.a. The One Who Waits?
A total of 17 faces spin around the Doctor, all of the others well known. Following the mystery face, there is Tom Baker (the Fourth Doctor), John Hurt (the War Doctor), Peter Capaldi (the Twelfth), Chris Eccleston (the Ninth), Matt Smith (the Eleventh), Jo Martin (the Fugitive Doctor, apparently some time before Hartnell in the show's recent "Timeless Child" chronology), David Tennant again (in his Tenth Doctor incarnation), Jon Pertwee (the Third), Colin Baker (the Sixth), Peter Davison (the Fifth), Paul McGann (the Eighth), Patrick Troughton (the Second), and Sylvester McCoy (the Seventh).
SEE ALSO:Russell T Davies explains the 'Bridgerton'/'Doctor Who' conundrumIn other words, counting Ncuti himself as the eighteenth face, that's all of the people to play the title role on TV in the show's 60-year history. This is a comprehensive set of holograms. Fans are familiar with the War Doctor and the Fugitive Doctor, both of whom feature in the Big Finish series of audio adventures.
So, who's the other face? Clearly it's someone we're supposed to notice, sandwiched as he is between the iconic First Doctor and even-more-iconic Fourth Doctor.
That guy. Second from left. Zoom. Enhance. Credit: Disney+ screenshotThis being a show about time travel and all, it's possible that this is a face from the Doctor's future. It's also possible that this is a face from the Doctor's distant, pre-Hartnell past, like the Fugitive Doctor, or the former Doctors seen briefly in the classic 1976 story "The Brain of Morbius," though the face doesn't really resemble any of them.
It does resemble actor Richard E Grant, who starred as the Doctor in an animated series called Scream of the Shalka. The face may be a sly reference to that obscure story, or to the time Grant appeared in Doctor Who as the Great Intelligence, who steps into the Doctor's timeline.
But there's another possibility — Grant (or a lookalike actor) may be neither of those characters here, but a villain still to come: the One Who Waits, perhaps. Showrunner and old-school fan Russell T Davies may be about to tie up one of the weirdest loose threads from the classic show andset fans' brains ablaze at the same time.
In the same way that his predecessor Chris Chibnall created the "Timeless Child" concept partly in order to satisfy lingering questions about those "Morbius" Doctors, Davies may reveal the Valeyard was a proper regeneration of the Doctor after all.
In the 1986 season-long story "Trial of a Time Lord," the Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker) is put in the dock by his fellow Gallifreyans. The prosecutor is a figure known only as the Valeyard (Michael Jayston) — to whom the face in the hologram bears an uncanny resemblance.
Tweet may have been deleted
Long story short, the Valeyard turns out to be a bad guy with intimate knowledge of our hero. The Doctor's old enemy, the Master (Anthony Ainley), tells us that the Valeyard is actually a future version of the Doctor, an "amalgamation of the darker sides of his nature," hailing from "somewhere between the Doctor's twelfth and final regenerations."
Even longer story short: The Doctor, like the Master, was only supposed to have 12 regenerations in total, but both cheated their supposed final death. At the end of 2013's "The Time of the Doctor," Matt Smith's Doctor was gifted a new set of regenerations and promptly transformed into Peter Capaldi. The Valeyard did not show up then, nor in any of the Doctor's subsequent regenerations (or in the case of Gatwa, bi-generation).
Technically, the Doctor is nowhere near his "final" regeneration, so the Valeyard could still be from his future. That means we shouldn't necessarily get our hopes up for a return of the character — or at least not the version played by Jayston, who died in February 2024, at the age of 88.
But in a season that has already shown its willingness to delve deep into the Doctor's past, with that mention of his long-forgotten granddaughter Susan in "The Devil's Chord," Davies could be signaling with this Valeyard-like face that there's one more twist in the end.
We've been expecting this season's major villain, The One Who Waits, since his presence was first announced by the Toymaker (Neil Patrick Harris) in Gatwa's first episode at the end of 2023, "The Giggle." The Valeyard is a strong candidate for The One Who Waits — especially given that he's been looming in the Doctor's potential future for nearly half of the show's existence.
Whether that face is meant to be Jayston or that of a new actor to play the villain, teasing the return of the Valeyard by hiding his image in plain sight would be an audacious move by returning showrunner Davies. The introduction of bi-generation in "The Giggle" may even mean that we get an answer for how the Valeyard came into existence in the first place — by splitting off from the Doctor at some earlier point in his many lives.
How to watch:New episodes of Doctor Whodrop every Friday night at 7 p.m. ET on Disney+, where available, and simultaneously at midnight on BBC iPlayer in the UK. The season finale airs June 22, and will also be screened in UK theaters.
TopicsDisney+Doctor WhoStreaming
(责任编辑：探索)
Cat gets stuck in the most awkward position ever
Fiona the hippo celebrates her fourth birthday with all of Twitter
How do I connect my laptop to a monitor?
New Google Doodle celebrates the Great ConjunctionMajor earthquake and multiple aftershocks rock central ItalyThis chart shows just how high Simone Biles can jump
American gymnast Simone Biles has dominated the Rio Olympics with five medals (four of them gold) bu
...[详细]Apple Maps will soon let you report accidents and speed traps
Apple Maps on iOS is becoming a bit like Waze.The new iOS 14.5 beta (via MacRumors) has a new Apple
...[详细]Mastercard will support cryptocurrency payments this year
Financial services company Mastercard has given fresh credibility to cryptocurrencies this week by a
...[详细]Apple TV+ 'Servant' Season 2 review: More suspense, more impact
Are you familiar with the "bomb theory?"It's an idea coined by Alfred Hitchcock: Imagine there's a b
...[详细]U.S. pole vaulter skids to a halt for national anthem
An American pole vaulter took his patriotism to the next level at the Olympics. 。Sam Kendricks, a sec
...[详细]'To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You' was cute, but we must talk about the ending
Welcome toFix It, our weekly series examining projects we love — save for one tiny change we w
...[详细]Lime adds electric mopeds to its fleet
Lime has added electric mopeds to its fleet of green shared vehicles — and you'll need a drive
...[详细]Facebook's Australian news ban extends to weather, and government info
Australians woke up on Thursday morning to find their news feeds, post history, and favourite news o
...[详细]Here's George Takei chilling in zero gravity for the 'Star Trek' anniversary
There's nothing like good friends, good memories and zero gravity to celebrate a milestone. 。In honor
...[详细]Why you shouldn’t buy Apple’s new MagSafe Duo charger
Fall is always new iPhone season, and Apple's newest flagships largely delivered the goods. It's har
...[详细]Hiddleswift finally followed each other on Instagram after 3 excruciating days
The 20 best viral videos of 2020
