Warning: Spoilers ahead forDoctor Whoseason 14, episode 6, “Rogue.”
Summary
Doctor Whoseason 14, episode 6, “Rogue,” includes an incredibly brief tease that reinforces the damage the Toymaker has done to the Doctor’s timeline.Neil Patrick Harris' Toymakerdebuted in “The Giggle,” giving theending to theDoctor Who60th-anniversary specialsan enormous amount of gravitas. He admitted to David Tennant’s Fourteenth Doctor that he, “Made a jigsaw out of [the Doctor’s] history,” finally making sense ofChris Chibnall’s confusing Timeless Child storylinewhile also kind of retconning it at the same time. Now, with Ncuti Gatwa leading theDoctor Whoseason 14 cast, it’s clear the twist isn’t over.
“Rogue” is a largely self-containedDoctor Whoadventure, but the writers still find a way to make coy nods to other ongoing mysteries. For instance,Susan Twist’s cameo in “Rogue” is very easy to miss, and Jonathon Groff’s bounty hunter character finally makesDoctor Who’s first reference to “The Boss” since “The Star Beast.” On top of all that,there’s an unknown Doctor present in the holographic paradeof former versions of the Time Lord.
25 Greatest Doctor Who Stories Of All Time, Ranked
Doctor Who has been a fixture on TV screens for 60 years, meaning there are plenty of stories to choose from when picking out the Time Lord’s best.
Doctor Who’s Unknown Regeneration Can Be Blamed On The Toymaker
The holographic face could be Richard E Grant’s “Shalka Doctor”
When the Doctor is proving to Rogue that he isn’t a Chuldur, he shows the bounty hunter all of his former faces. It doesn’t exactly refuse Rogue’s shapeshifter accusations, but it does establish the Doctor as a Time Lord rather than a member of the same race as the episode’s antagonists. Among the holographic avatars of all the former Doctor actors is a face that looks familiar, but it isn’t anyone who has played a canon version of the Doctor.It looks an awful lot like Richard E Grant, which could be delayed and compelling evidence of the Toymaker’s meddling.
Grant voiced an animated version of an alternate Ninth Doctor in 2003. TheDoctor Whoshow,Scream of the Shalka, followed the exploits of Grant’s Doctor. At the time, the franchise had been inactive since Paul McGann’s 1996 failedDoctor Whomovie.Scream of the Shalkawas originally intended to add to the show’s main continuity, with Richard E Grant voicing the latest iteration of the Doctor. Now known as “The Shalka Doctor,” the animated Doctor isn’t considered canon, as Christopher Eccleston snagged the true role of the Ninth Doctor when the main show was revived in 2005.
Just as the Toymaker added extra regenerations that lived before William Hartnell’s First Doctor, Harris' celestial villain is likely the one responsible for reintegrating the Shalka Doctor into the timeline of the franchise’s titular Time Lord. That is, if the holographic face shown in “Rogue” does turn out to be Richard E Grant. If so, then one of the Doctor’s alternate timelines could now be considered to be part ofDoctor Who’s main continuity.Fifteen is distracted by trying to save himself during this sequence with Rogue, so he probably missed the erroneous visage.
Reestablishing the Shalka Doctor asDoctor Whocanon would certainly fit the Toymaker’s claims in “The Giggle” of having made a “Jigsaw” out of the Doctor’s history.
RTD Already Confirmed The Toymaker Loosened Doctor Who’s Canon
The Doctor Who showrunner has allowed certain stories to breathe
Doctor Whohas been in existence for six decades now, and countless individuals have contributed to the lore of the franchise. As a result, canonical clashes are inevitable, as even the smallest out-of-place detail can send the overall story spiraling off into an illogical realm. During the commentary for “The Giggle,“Russell T Davies confirms that the Toymaker’s jigsaw comment, “Relaxes the rules,“and essentially allows all the conflicting storylines to exist in harmony.
What The Toymaker’s “Legions” Are In Doctor Who Season 14
Neil Patrick Harris' Doctor Who Villain promises his “Legions are coming” in “The Giggle,” but it’s unclear exactly who he is referring to.
A brilliant example of the Toymaker working wonders for the Doctor’s nebulous backstory is allowing Paul McGann’s Eighth Doctor to be half-human. The comment from Eight in theDoctor Whomovie can’t just be a throwaway line, as his human DNA is a major part of the film’s plot. Whilethe Doctor being half-human never made any sense, it can now be easily attributed to the Toymaker. Harris' character provides a similar solution to all the pre-William Hartnell Doctors, meaning all the other versions of the Doctor once never existed and are products of the Toymaker’s intervention.
Doctor Who’s New Doctor Means Other Non-TV Regenerations Can Become Canon
Rowan Atkin’s comedic take on the Doctor is arguably now in the running to become part of the official lore
The unknown Doctor that appears in the hologram in “Rogue” opens the door for a slew of other versions of the Doctor to make their live-action debuts.Iterations of the Doctor fromDoctor Whocomics and novels could find their way to the small screen, not to mention the other non-canonical regenerations from the franchise’s vast array of audio dramas. In short, the Doctor’s timeline could be about to go even more haywire in the near future.
A rich vein of potential alternate Doctors comes in the 1999 Comic Relief special, “The Curse of Fatal Death.”
A rich vein of potential alternate Doctors comes in the 1999 Comic Relief special, “The Curse of Fatal Death.” TheDoctor Whoparody featured stars like Rowan Atkinson, Joanna Lumley, and Hugh Grant all playing various regenerations of the Doctor. Richard E Grant even plays a version of the Time Lord, four years prior toScream of the Shalkabeing released.“The Curse of Fatal Death” was written by Steven Moffat, making it his first script penned for anythingDoctor Who-adjacent. This creates an even stronger possibility that it could be used as future source material.
The Toymaker’s Influence On Doctor Who Continues To Be Huge
The Doctor’s timeline is probably still harboring pockets of change caused by the Toymaker
Although the Doctor and the Toymaker go back a very long way, the villain was largely forgotten about until theDoctor Who60th-anniversary celebrations.The three-minute salt scene with David Tennant in “Wild Blue Yonder"is what allowed the Toymaker to cross into the Doctor’s reality. As a result, that moment is turning out to be much more pivotal than it initially seemed. Even though the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Doctors managed to team up and defeat the Toymaker, the villain’s legacy is only just now becoming clear. In other words,banishing the Toymaker hasn’t rectified the damage he caused.
Doctor Who’s Pantheon Of The Gods Explained
The Pantheon in Doctor Who consists of beings whose power isn’t to be underestimated, and their threat could transform the show’s dynamic.
Jinkx Monsoon’s Maestrois another example of a threat to the Doctor that wouldn’t have existed without the Toymaker. As the Toymaker’s child,Maestro is the direct descendant of Neil Patrick Harris' antagonist, and boasts similarly godlike abilities that almost lead to the end of the Doctor and Ruby inDoctor Whoseason 14, episode 2, “The Devil’s Chord.” So, while certain signs of the Toymaker’s actions have been easy to spot in the Disney era ofDoctor Who, others have been either more subtle or hidden in plain sight, and his banishment didn’t quash his alterations to reality.
“Space Babies” & “The Devil’s Chord”
“Empire of Death”
Doctor Who
Cast
Doctor Who: Released on July 25, 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.
