If you were worried that Disney+’s involvement in Doctor Who would mean it doesn’t feel like the same show, Russell T Davies has said that the return of Sutekh the Destroyer was a “deliberate choice” to make sure the franchise still felt whole.
Sutekh previously appeared in Pyramids of Mars and came back for the Doctor Who Series 14 finale, The Legend of Ruby Sunday/ Empire of Death.
The showrunner explains:
“Being on Disney+ now, this is a very deliberate choice to bring back an old BBC enemy – we’ve even cast the same actor [Gabriel Woolf] – to prove that the show hasn’t severed its roots. To delve into your backstory is a very fine thing. That’s thrilling for new viewers, and for old viewers, it’s a great reward.”
This somewhat flies in the face of the current era rebranding itself as Doctor Who Season 1 — one reason the DWC continues to call it Series 14. We think the whole thing should feel as one, and while 20th Century Who is typically referred to now in seasons, there’s no real narrative cut between the Thirteenth Doctor’s era and those under the eye of Davies, unlike the natural division between Survival, The TV Movie, and Rose. We need some distinctions, but not others.
So why bring back Sutekh otherwise? Russell says:
“I remember Nicola Shindler, a producer I work with, getting so excited about Agatha Harkness arriving in WandaVision. She thought it was the most brilliant reveal. I asked her, ‘Do you know who Agatha Harkness is?’ She went, ‘No, I’ve no idea!’ And I’m fascinated by that – that you can introduce a character from the lore, who a modern viewer doesn’t know, and yet they get the thrill of it.”
Agatha Harkness is an interesting one really — her MCU incarnation is pretty far removed form her original Marvel Comics counterpart, though both indulge in some magic. Nonetheless, it’s fascinating that people were excited for her, even though they didn’t actually know her. Really, this feels like the influence of social media, generating publicity through rumours and speculation, including that Agnes would actually be revealed as Agatha.
Anyway, it’ll be neat to see more returning characters and/or monsters in Doctor Who. The next are presumably the Silurians in Joy to the World, this year’s Christmas special.
