WARNING: Contains SPOILERS for Doctor Who: “The Star Beast.”
Summary
An off-hand comment by Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) could tease the return of the Master in Ncuti Gatwa’s first season of Doctor Who. The Master (Sacha Dhawan) was last seen in “The Power of the Doctor”, so it’s unlikely that Russell T Davies would bring them back so soon, especially in the same run of episodes as the Toymaker. However, Ncuti Gatwa is set to take over from the returning David Tennant at the end of “The Giggle”, and could be set for another clash with their arch-nemesis
A throwaway gag in the first Doctor Who 60th anniversary special, “The Star Beast” suggests that the Master could be alive and well after his apparent death in “The Power of the Doctor”. When the Fourteenth Doctor (David Tennant) is reunited with Donna Noble, she’s struggling with poorly stacked boxes in the middle of Camden. Interestingly, Donna’s description of the original box stacker bears a striking similarity to one of the Doctor’s oldest foes.
Donna References A Man With A Goatee In Doctor Who’s “The Star Beast”
As the Doctor and Rose (Yasmin Finney) watch the spaceship carrying Beep the Meep (Miriam Margolyes) crash over Camden, Donna re-stacks her collection of boxes. As she does so, she mutters “never trust a man with a goatee”, which is good advice for anyone encountering several of the Master’s incarnations. This could be an idle thought, inspired by the latent Time Lord memories in her mind, or it could be a tease that the Master is up to their old tricks. Especially because the Doctor’s arch-nemesis has previously accosted a Doctor Who companion in a London shop.
In the Matt Smith episode, “The Bells of St. John,” Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman) is given the Doctor’s phone number by a woman in a computer shop. Much later, during Peter Capaldi’s Doctor Who era, it’s revealed that the woman in the shop was the Master’s female incarnation, Missy (Michelle Gomez). Pairing the Doctor and Clara together was part of an elaborate mind game by Missy, which resulted in the death of Clara’s boyfriend, Danny Pink (Samuel Anderson). It’s unknown what the Master could achieve by poorly stacking boxes. However, the Anthony Ainley Master once dressed as a scarecrow for no discernible reason in “The Mark of the Rani”, so they’ve always been a bit unpredictable.
The Meep’s “Boss” Could Be The Master
At the end of “The Star Beast”, Beep the Meep cryptically refers to their “boss,” someone who would be interested in another two-hearted creature. It’s been confirmed by David Tennant and Phil Collinson that this tease relates to Ncuti Gatwa’s first season of Doctor Who. Therefore, the villain isn’t the Toymaker, and is another enemy due to be revealed in 2024. There are various candidates for potential bosses, from fellow classic Doctor Who comics villain Josiah W. Dogbolter to a brand-new character. The tease of two hearted creatures being rare could relate to someone who sees the financial and scientific value in sourcing the body of the last of the Time Lords.
Alternatively, Beep the Meep’s boss could be the Master, who’s amassing a group of freelance alien enemies to seek out the two heartbeats of the Doctor across all time and space. The Master already sided with the Daleks and the Cybermen in “The Power of the Doctor”, so it would make sense for them to hire some other alien villains. That being said, the Master has never had a problem tracking down the Doctor before, so perhaps they’re in a diminished state following the events of “Power”, and need some external assistance in tracking down their nemesis.
Doctor Who Master Return Rumors Were Already Swirling Before The 60th Specials
The design of the Fourteenth Doctor’s new sonic screwdriver is based on the John Simm Master’s laser screwdriver from Doctor Who season 3. It’s seemingly just a nod by the designers to the show’s past, rather than an indicator of the Master’s impending return. However, coupled with a throwaway gag about a man with a goatee, it’s tempting to see Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies toying with his audience. During his first Doctor Who era, RTD publicly claimed he had no interest in bringing back the Master, before bringing them back the very next year.
A Reddit user also put forward a compelling theory about Jinkx Monsoon’s Doctor Who villain. They suggested that the RuPaul’s Drag Race winner could be playing a non-binary version of the Master, pointing to the black costume and musical notes as potential clues. Given the Master’s fondness for disguises and elaborate aliases, the theory suggests that this new musical version of the Master could go by Maestro – the Italian word for Master. Russell T Davies has said that Jinkx Monsoon is playing the Doctor’s “most powerful enemy yet”, which certainly doesn’t exclude them from being a new incarnation of the classic Doctor Who villain.
Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary specials continue Saturdays on BBC1 and Disney+.
Originally premiered in 1963, Doctor Who is a sci-fi series that follows a powerful being known as a Time Lord, referred to as the Doctor. Using an interdimensional time-traveling ship known as the TARDIS, the Doctor travels time and space with various companions as they solve multiple problems and help avert catastrophe as much as they almost cause it. Though the Doctor is always the same character, they experience regenerations, allowing them to be recast every few seasons as a unique immortal being with new personality traits.
