Doctor Who boss teases secret guest stars: "I'm leaving some people out"
Could some major characters be back for series 13?
It’s official – the Doctor Who series 13 cast list is absolutely heaving, with a very long list of big names revealed to be joining the series over the past week.
“We’ve got lots of them, haven’t we?” series showrunner Chris Chibnall told RadioTimes.com and other press. "I need the list in front of me. I can tell you, we have Annabel Scholey, we have Kevin McNally. Who else have we got? Who’s the other guests? We have Sarah Powell in episode two.
“We’ve got Sam Spruell. We’ve got Rochenda Sandall. We’ve got Craig Parkinson. How’s that for a list? It’s really great. And then we’ve got John [Bishop] and Jacob [Anderson]. There are some really fantastic actors. You get to see a bit more of them than you normally would in just a single episode.”
However, Chibnall also teased that this might not be the completed cast list, noting that there were “some people [we] might not want to say,”
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“I’m sure I’m leaving some people out. Well, I know I’m leaving some people out deliberately,” he added.
“But I’m also sure that I’m forgetting people as well.”
So who could Chibnall be leaving out “deliberately” on top of the already-stacked cast that’s been announced? Assuming he’s not just covering all the bases (and trying to seem like he’s intentionally left out actors like the confirmed Blake Harrison and Jonathan Watson rather than by omission), we have a few theories.
Top of our list for these hidden guest stars? Sacha Dhawan’s version of the Master, who cropped up over multiple episodes in the last series as he battled with his nemesis the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker). While he seemed to have been blown up at the end of series 12 finale The Timeless Children, evidence suggests he escaped the blast, and with Whittaker due to exit the series next year it seems like they’re due a rematch before she goes.
That, plus the fact that Sacha Dhawan has been seen hanging out in Cardiff recently while Doctor Who was filming, make this seem fairly likely. But who else could Chibnall have been referring to?
Well, what about Jo Martin? Martin’s Fugitive Doctor – a previously-unknown incarnation of the Time Lord, living undercover in present-day Gloucester – was a hit when she turned up halfway through the last series, before popping back for a quick cameo in the finale. Surely we have more loose ends to tie up between these two Doctors before Whittaker leaves?
And there’s also the possibility of long-awaited onscreen meetings between Whittaker and past cast members like Alex Kingston’s River Song, Carole Ann Ford’s Susan Foreman or any number of ex-companions.
Whatever the truth, it certainly sounds like for the entire six-episode run of Doctor Who: Flux and the specials beyond, Chibnall still has plenty of tricks up his sleeve. Get ready for some surprises…
- Doctor Who's Jodie Whittaker on the next Doctor: “The joy of this job is you hand on your boots”
- Chris Chibnall says it took “longer than expected” for him to leave Doctor Who
- Is Doctor Who returning to a classic series location in series 13?
- Doctor Who might be entering its own multiverse of madness
Doctor Who: Flux comes to BBC One on Sunday 31st October. For more, check out our dedicated Sci-Fi hub or our full TV Guide.
