The Games Are Deadly When ‘Doctor Who’ Returns In 2025
by Erik Amaya
While Doctor Who fans are still processing the emotions of the 2024 holiday special, “Joy to the World” — seriously, the whole 2024 Sandringham Hotel sequence is just amazing — the program is already looking forward to the new season via a tease appended to the end of the special:
Varada Sethu joins the Fifteenth Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) as new companion Belinda Chandra for a journey across time and space — even if she just wants to get home — that seems to be troubled by forces from beyond the universe. Are the gods the Fourteenth Doctor (David Tennant) allowed into creation still playing games with the nature of everything? If so, then the Doctor’s line about the games being deadly suggests, somehow, that the Toymaker (Neil Patrick Harris) might be making a return as the Pantheon continues to trouble an already ravaged universe.
Hopefully, this Doctor’s optimism can turn back the tide and, maybe, heal reality a little bit following the double shocks of the Flux and the return of Sutekh. In fact, we wonder if the The Doctor’s occasional references to the Flux destroying half the universe will ever get properly explored. Other thoughts inspired by the special and the teaser:
- Is the CEO of Villengard the mysterious “boss” the Meep (Miriam Margolyes) and Rogue (Jonathan Groff) referenced in their episodes? Some have noted the company name is just a little too similar to “Valeyard” — a title used by an evil partial regeneration of The Doctor. Although, that may just be a coincidence since writer Steven Moffat has been using the company in Doctor Who stories since 2005. In fact, his last Christmas special, “Twice Upon a Time” features one of Villengard’s former factories under the control of the “good” Dalek, Rusty. Could he be the boss?
- Where was Mrs. Flood (Anita Dobson) during Christmas everywhere all at once? Her absence is interesting considering she can see us at home experiencing the tale. Or was she there all along…?
- Why didn’t The Doctor call Ruby (Millie Gibson)? He might suggest a few reasons during the special, but nothing was stopping him but himself. And considering the seeming personal growth he obtained during his year at the Sandringham, you’d think he’d be ready to re-establish contact. Then again, look at the way Fourteen seems to ignore everyone but the Nobles (and another former companion inducted into the family). The Doctor still has a lot to learn and we wonder just how his reunion with Ruby will go once he visits her at UNIT.
- Oh, and speaking of UNIT! Based on the teaser, it seems Kate (Jemma Redgrave) will successfully recruit the former companion to the cause, but what sort of work will she be doing for the task force? And has she met Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) and her Doctor?
One thing we can rely on with Doctor Who is to give us the feels and provoke a lot of questions … even if two of them will be answered before we wind back around for Christmas 2025. It’s a comfort to have The Doctor out there, though, being as kind as he can be. Maybe he’ll finally learn to be kind to himself.
Doctor Who returns in 2025.
