Who or What Is Stalking the Doctor in Series 9?

Jeremy Remy is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

Doctor Who news is still coming out of the recently wrapped up San Diego Comic-Con, where Peter Capaldi, Michelle Gomez and Steven Moffat all sat with TV Line’s Michael Ausiello to answer a few questions about Series 9 of the series. Between the group fielding the typical questions about the relationship between the Doctor and his companion, the alien nature of the Doctor and the inevitable return of Missy, Capaldi was asked if there was a special moment in the new season that would resonate with fans. His answer to this question was twofold, and has caused an eruption of fan speculation:

I think the Doctor has realized that, even at two and a half thousand years of age, life is short. And he’s in a great position and he should enjoy it. But, at the same time, there’s something stalking him that will make life less pleasant for him.

Capaldi goes on to add that the Twelfth Doctor will be taking on a couple of classic monsters, “and one in particular… which will make you have to think carefully about regeneration.”

While it’s unclear whether these statements are referring to the same situation, it hasn’t stopped fans on Reddit from putting forward contenders for the classic monster stalking the Doctor. Theories have ranged from unlikely to suspected and known contenders (with the potential of greater significance than previously anticipated).

The unlikely include the Watcher—a mid-regeneration manifestation of the Doctor, who haunted the Fourth Doctor in Logopolis and the Fifth Doctor in the Big Finish audio, Circular Time, as a spectral omen of death—and the Valeyard—an amalgamation of the darker side of the Doctor’s nature from between his twelfth and final incarnation. The Valeyard has been a fan favorite for a return since a bearded meta-crisis Doctor with an evil twist appeared to pop up in IDW Comic’s The Forgotten. The mention of his name in The Name of the Doctor and revival of the character in Big Finish’s Trial of the Valeyard have only served to stoke the flames.

The suspected return monster is Davros—Kaled scientist and creator of the Daleks. The appearance of what seemed to be a Skaro city in the Series 9 trailer, and rumors of a pre-Dalek Skaro in The Magician’s Apprentice, have fans considering the Doctor’s previous failure to eliminate the Daleks’ creation in Genesis of the Daleks. The other suspected return is Morbius, based on the appearance of a disfigured cloaked man in the trailer, and the verified casting of Clare Higgins (who previously played one of the Sisterhood of Karn in The Night of the Doctor). Morbius was a renegade Time Lord who extended his life past his regenerations through taking a body of scavenged parts, and attempted to obtain the Sisterhood’s Elixir of Life in The Brain of Morbius.

The known return monster is a Zygon—one of the orange, sucker-covered race from the planet Zygor, previously seen in The Day of the Doctor. Likely linked to the return of Osgood, fans speculate the shapeshifting nature of these aliens may also have ties to the similarity in appearance between the Twelfth Doctor, Lucius Caecilius (from Fires of Pompeii), and John Frobisher (from Torchwood: Children of Earth)—each played by Peter Capaldi.

All of this remains fan theorizing, and until Doctor Who returns to our screens on 19 September, we won’t really know. Still, it’s fun to guess. What or who do you think is stalking the Doctor? What classic monster could cause you to question regeneration?

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