Warning: Spoilers ahead forDoctor Whoseason 14, episode 6, “Rogue.”
Summary
Doctor Whomay have just changed the entirety of the Doctor’s existence once again, and all by showing a brief image of a previously unseen version of the Time Lord in “Rogue.” In recent years,the Doctor’s backstory has been altered so much that it’s become almost unrecognizableto the long-standing fans of the show. However, it seems thatDoctor Who’s Disney eraisn’t planning to stop the alterations to established canon, and there could be enormous repercussions for the character going forward.
Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor entered the show due to theshocking bi-generation twistnear theend of theDoctor Who60th-anniversary specials. Although Gatwa’s version of the character has sinceconfirmed he can’t bi-generate again, the impact made by the groundbreaking scene has yet to become completely clear. That being said, the tease in “Rogue” aboutan unfamiliar version of the Doctor provides some insight into bi-generation’s fallout.
Doctor Who Season 14 Cast & Character Guide: Who Appears In Each Episode
Doctor Who season 14 is Ncuti Gatwa’s first full outing as the Doctor, and he is joined by an exciting cast of newcomers and familiar faces.
Richard E. Grant May Be Playing The Bi-Generated Eighth Doctor’s Successor
Grant voiced an animated version of the Doctor in 2003
Russell T Davies has stated during the commentary for “The Giggle” that when David Tennant’s Fourteenth Doctor bi-generated, so did every previous Doctor. Therefore, a new version of the Time Lord spawned from every Doctor leading up to the Fourteenth, meaning every preexisting iteration also survived. So, when Paul McGann’s Eighth Doctor regenerated into John Hurt’s War Doctor inDoctor Who’s 2013 minisode, “The Night of the Doctor,” both men now survived the sequence, creating a sort ofDoctor Whomultiverse. So,McGann could have eventually regenerated into Richard E. Grant’s Ninth Doctor, whose hologram is shown in “Rogue.”
Doctor Whowas revived in 2005, andScream of the Shalkabecame nothing more than a non-canon adventure.
Grant voiced a version of the Ninth Doctor in the 2003 animated series,Doctor Who: Scream of the Shalka. The show was originally intended to be a continuation of the main franchise. However,Doctor Whowas revived in 2005, andScream of the Shalkabecame nothing more than a non-canon adventure.Grant’s alternate Ninth Doctor is now commonly referred to as the “Shalka Doctor"to avoid confusion with Christopher Eccleston’s version of the character. “Rogue” excitingly re-complicates matters, with theToymaker’s meddling in the Doctor’s timelineproving to be more severe than originally assumed.
This Bi-Generation Reveal Would Be Massive For Doctor Who
Grant’s presence in “Rogue” transforms Doctor Who continuity
Bi-generation is already a huge introduction to theDoctor Whocanon, but if Richard E. Grant is actually playing a live-action Shalka Doctor, then the implication is that the number of Doctors in the universe has doubled - at the very least.Grant’s Doctor would have just as much of a legitimate claim to the title of Nine as Christopher Eccleston’s- if not more so, due to the War Doctor iteration being skipped. However, the show hasn’t confirmed if a bi-generated Doctor, as Grant’s may be, can regenerate again. That being said, there’s nothing to suggest they can’t.
Why The Third Doctor’s Hologram Looks Older In Doctor Who Season 14, Episode 6
Jon Pertwee’s brief cameo in “Rogue” takes the form of a holographic image that doesn’t align with the actor’s time as the Third Doctor.
At present, it’s also unclear if every new Doctor also bi-generated at the same moment as Fourteen did in “The Giggle.” If they did, then there could arguably be an infinite number of Doctors throughout the multiverse who went on to have vastly different experiences from one another. To give just a very small example,Grant’s Ninth Doctor could have gone on to regenerate into an alternate Tenth Doctor, who was nothing like David Tennant’s Tenth. The possibilities are utterly mind-boggling, and they essentially mean there will always be many active versions ofDoctor Who’s main character.
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Doctor Who: Released on August 03, 2025, this series follows the Doctor and their companion as they journey across time and space, encountering a range of extraordinary friends and adversaries, expanding the universe of the long-running British science fiction series.
