Multi-Doctor stories in Doctor Who are certainly nothing new. The first one happened in 1973 as part of the show’s 10th anniversary, and they usually signify some great milestone. There’ve been three, five, two, and even as of the 50th anniversary special, “all 13!” But the Doctor certainly isn’t the only Time Lord out there, so why must we be satisfied with only the Doctor getting to meet previous incarnations? In Series 10, Peter Capaldi‘s Twelfth Doctor will have to match wits not only with Michelle Gomez’s Missy/the Master, but John Simm’s as well. It’s a Tale of Two Masters!! (That better be the title.) (Or “The Servant of Two Masters.” A Goldoni reference?!?!?! Yes.)
UK tabloid rag The Sun first ran the story, which has since been confirmed by the BBC–to get ahead of it, I expect–that Simm would indeed be returning to Doctor Who for the first time since New Year’s Day 2010 in the abominable “The End of Time” which served as the final story for both David Tennant and showrunner Russell T. Davies.
Simm said in a statement: “I can confirm that it’s true, thanks to the power of time travel I’m back. It’s always a pleasure to work with this great team of people and I can’t wait for you all to see what the Master gets up to in the next series.”
Current showrunner Steven Moffat also issued a statement (throwing not-so-subtle shade at the Christmas-present-ruining Sun): “Nothing stays secret for long on Doctor Who but you’ll have to wait a little bit longer to see exactly what the Master is up to and how he makes his return to face the Doctor. It’s been a huge pleasure to have fan favourites John Simm and Michelle Gomez face to face in the same role! It’s not often you get to see a solo personality clash.”
Gomez had already been confirmed for the two-part finale of Series 10 (which will also see the return of the Cybermen through the ages) and director Rachel Talalay issued a warning on Twitter.
Oh yeah. Be afraid https://t.co/I6DhQ9MkMJ
— Rachel Talalay (@rtalalay) April 6, 2017
As you probably could tell from my above statement, I’m not the hugest fan of “The End of Time,” and actually I think it all but ruined Simm’s take on the Master and went a long way to put a bad taste in my mouth about Tennant, at one point my favorite Doctor. But, it did end very open-ended in terms of what the Master did after he helped send Rassilon and the Time Lords back to the Time War. The next time we saw the Master, it was in the form of Missy, so obviously there’s a lot of gray area where the Simm Master could be off doing evil and could pop in to help/verbally spar with his later self.
Gomez has been a revelation in the role of the Master, my favorite since Roger Delgado’s initial portrayal in the ’70s, but the idea of having her AND Simm, who was a very compelling figure in his Series 3 episodes, is almost too cool to comprehend. Cybermen and two Masters. This finale is going to be insane.
Doctor Who premieres Saturday, April 15 at 9/8c on BBC America. Let me know your thoughts on a Master Meetup in the comments below!
Images: BBC
Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor and the resident Whovian for Nerdist. Follow him on Twitter!
