Warning! The next accommodates spoilers for the Physician Who episode, “The Actuality Struggle.” Stream it with a Disney+ subscription and skim at your personal threat!
Whereas many did not need it, the fears many Physician Who followers had in regards to the Fifteenth Physician regenerating got here to cross. The writing was on the wall that Ncuti Gatwa would go away as rumors circulated about his exit, however I am undecided anybody was satisfied the rumor about his successor was remotely true. And but, Billie Piper was revealed because the Sixteenth Physician, however was she actually?
The actress, who rose to fame after taking part in companion Rose Tyler within the early seasons of Physician Who‘s reboot period, launched an announcement about her huge return to the franchise that few predicted. She’s clearly pleased to be again, and already hinting there’s some thriller to this attention-grabbing improvement:
It’s no secret how a lot I really like this present, and I’ve all the time stated I might like to return to the Whoniverse as I’ve a few of my finest reminiscences there, so to be given the chance to step again on that TARDIS yet one more time was simply one thing I couldn’t refuse, however who, how, why and when, you’ll simply have to attend and see.
We should wait and see, however there is no rule towards speculating and attempting to determine the reply earlier than we see Physician Who return for a brand new season! As somebody who has caught with the collection for years, listed here are the attainable eventualities I’ve cooked up that will clarify why it looks like The Physician has the face of a former companion for the primary time.
The Sixteenth Physician Has Rose’s Face Due To “Unfinished Enterprise”
When David Tennant returned to play the Fourteenth Physician, his face was a reminder of his “unfinished enterprise” with Catherine Tate’s Donna Noble. As followers might bear in mind, The Physician needed to erase his former companion’s reminiscence to stop her from dying after her transformation into “Physician Donna” threatened her life. In fact, he was in a position to remedy her throughout his return, and the duo had some enjoyable adventures earlier than he finally bi-generated into Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Physician.
The Physician now having Rose Tyler’s face might suggest she has “unfinished enterprise,” however it would not take advantage of sense if that enterprise had been together with her former companion. If I needed to make a guess, that enterprise could be with the Fourteenth Physician, who probably nonetheless has emotions for Rose in any case these years and remains to be alive following the bi-generation.
The beloved collection bringing Tennant and Piper again collectively for extra adventures, particularly when each of them are The Physician, seems like a dream come true that even fan-fiction could not think about. That stated, Tennant has been fairly clear that he is formally retired from the position, and that he will not be coming again for extra adventures. In fact, I doubt he anticipated Piper to be reintroduced when he initially made these feedback, so I might be curious to see if he is modified his thoughts now that she’s again within the combine. Maybe the grand plan of that is to offer Tennant’s Fourteenth Physician a correct send-off, despite the fact that I really feel like we have already gotten that.
This Is By some means Tied To “Dangerous Wolf”
I’ve already seen a number of viewers speculate that this is not The Physician in any respect, and that “Dangerous Wolf” has in some way returned. For individuals who want a reminder, Dangerous Wolf was an entity that Rose grew to become in an journey with the Ninth Physician after wanting into the guts of the TARDIS. The Physician ended up absorbing the ability of Dangerous Wolf and the Time Vortex to avoid wasting Rose’s life, which in the end compelled him to regenerate.
Might Rose’s face showing imply the residual power from the Time Vortex nonetheless exists inside The Physician? Curiously sufficient, the Ninth Physician theorized a Time Lord absorbing the Dangerous Wolf would end in “A vengeful god,” which looks like an attention-grabbing remark to make contemplating The Physician lately defeated a slew of gods taking up The Pantheon.
When Russell T. Davies spoke to CinemaBlend in regards to the Pantheon, he stated he had extra tales to inform. Is it attainable that the gods are concentrating on The Physician as a result of they in the end hope to govern his personal energy with the time vortex, and harness it for their very own means? What’s the entire level of this plan? It feels just like the Sixteenth Physician might proceed the story of the gods into its subsequent act, assuming Dangerous Wolf is concerned in any approach.
This Is Simply One other Case Of The Physician Borrowing A Acquainted Face
Whereas The Physician borrowing the face of a companion is not acquainted territory, this isn’t the primary time we have seen him take a face we have seen earlier than. The newest instance is how Tennant performed each the Tenth and Fourteenth Physician, however individuals might overlook one other occasion the place this occurred. Spoiler alert, his image is proven above this paragraph.
Peter Capaldi was a distinguished visitor star in Physician Who throughout the episode, “The Fires Of Pompeii,” after which later grew to become the Twelfth Physician. The collection did not draw back from bringing that to the viewer’s consideration both, as The Physician fairly instantly remarked he took on the face of Caecilius, the character Capaldi initially performed.
On this occasion, he figured the explanation was that he wanted a reminder that The Physician helps individuals, identical to Caecilius did. As somebody who watched Capaldi’s run on the time, I do not bear in mind followers being too up in arms about the truth that the character was performed by somebody who was beforehand on the present as another person. Then once more, Caecilius was nowhere close to as iconic of a personality as Rose, so I feel there are understandably much more reactions.
The idea, nevertheless, stays the identical. The Physician might have taken the face of Rose as a result of she must be reminded of one thing that she’d beforehand forgotten. I feel out of all the probabilities for why The Physician appears to be like like her, that is the cleanest one to drag off, making it the most definitely. Russell T. Davies has shocked me earlier than, nevertheless, so I do not anticipate we’ll know till we see the collection return for extra episodes.
Physician Who does not have a confirmed new season simply but, however I am certain we’ll get information on what’s subsequent for the collection because the yr goes on. Till then catch all of Ncuti Gatwa’s run on Disney+, and hold a watch out for what’s subsequent for Earth’s protector.