The first half of Doctor Who season 12’s epic two-part finale ended with a whopper of a cliffhanger. Just as a new army of Cybermen emerged, the Doctor discovered a portal to her homeworld of Gallifrey – which her old enemy the Master jumped out of. The stage is set, then, for another thrilling showdown between the two Time Lords. And star Sacha Dhawan is promising that the finale, titled “The Timeless Children,” will reveal new sides to both the Doctor and the Master.
While speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Dhawan – the ninth actor to take on the role of the iconic villain – teased that the Master’s final line in the last episode was not an empty threat.
“That really important statement that I said to the Doctor, which is ‘Everything you think you know is a lie’ — hopefully that question will be answered. But more answers lead to more questions.
He then got us hyped for a deeper dive into what makes the Master tick, as well as a similar fresh look at our time-traveling heroine.
“The Master has so many different sides, but you’re going to see a side to him that you’ve not seen before, and you’re going to see a side to the Doctor that you’ve not seen before either.”
Lastly, the actor was keen to stress that there’s a lot of emotion as well as action in the climactic installment, saying:
“Yes, it’s pretty chaotic and action-packed, in one sense. It’s also incredibly emotional as well.”
Dhawan debuted on the show in the season 12 opener, “Spyfall: Part One,” with the shocking cliffhanger revealing that nerdy Q-like figure O was just a disguise for the Doctor’s nemesis. In the second half of the story, we learned that the Master had destroyed Gallifrey in retaliation to a dark secret he had uncovered about the Time Lords’ past. Something to do with the Timeless Child.
Since then, we’ve met a secret regeneration from the Doctor’s past, played by Jo Martin, that Thirteen had no idea existed. The reigning theory is, then, that the Doctor herself is the Timeless Child and somehow key to Gallifrey’s ancient history. Who knows what it all means right now, but all the answers are waiting for us when Doctor Who season 12 concludes this Sunday, March 1st on BBC One/America.