Warning! The following contains spoilers for the Doctor Who episode, "The Reality War." Stream it with a Disney+ subscription and read at your own risk!
While many didn't want it, the fears many Doctor Who fans had about the Fifteenth Doctor regenerating came to pass. The writing was on the wall that Ncuti Gatwa would leave as rumors circulated about his exit, but I'm not sure anyone was convinced the rumor about his successor was remotely true. And yet, Billie Piper was revealed as the Sixteenth Doctor, but was she really?
The actress, who rose to fame after playing companion Rose Tyler in the early seasons of Doctor Who's reboot era, released a statement about her big return to the franchise that few predicted. She's clearly happy to be back, and already hinting there's some mystery to this interesting development:
It’s no secret how much I love this show, and I have always said I would love to return to the Whoniverse as I have some of my best memories there, so to be given the opportunity to step back on that TARDIS one more time was just something I couldn’t refuse, but who, how, why and when, you’ll just have to wait and see.
We will have to wait and see, but there's no rule against speculating and trying to figure out the answer before we see Doctor Who return for a new season! As someone who has stuck with the series for years, here are the possible scenarios I've cooked up that may explain why it seems like The Doctor has the face of a former companion for the first time.
The Sixteenth Doctor Has Rose's Face Due To "Unfinished Business"
When David Tennant returned to play the Fourteenth Doctor, his face was a reminder of his "unfinished business" with Catherine Tate's Donna Noble. As fans may remember, The Doctor had to erase his former companion's memory to prevent her from dying after her transformation into "Doctor Donna" threatened her life. Of course, he was able to cure her during his return, and the duo had some fun adventures before he eventually bi-generated into Ncuti Gatwa's Fifteenth Doctor.
The Doctor now having Rose Tyler's face may imply she has "unfinished business," but it wouldn't make the most sense if that business were with her former companion. If I had to make a guess, that business would be with the Fourteenth Doctor, who likely still has feelings for Rose after all these years and is still alive following the bi-generation.
The beloved series bringing Tennant and Piper back together for more adventures, especially when both of them are The Doctor, sounds like a dream come true that even fan-fiction couldn't imagine. That said, Tennant has been pretty clear that he's officially retired from the role, and that he won't be coming back for more adventures. Of course, I doubt he expected Piper to be reintroduced when he originally made those comments, so I'd be curious to see if he's changed his mind now that she's back in the mix. Perhaps the grand plan of this is to give Tennant's Fourteenth Doctor a proper send-off, even though I feel like we've already gotten that.
This Is Somehow Tied To "Bad Wolf"
I've already seen a lot of viewers speculate that this isn't The Doctor at all, and that "Bad Wolf" has somehow returned. For those who need a reminder, Bad Wolf was an entity that Rose became in an adventure with the Ninth Doctor after looking into the heart of the TARDIS. The Doctor ended up absorbing the power of Bad Wolf and the Time Vortex to save Rose's life, which ultimately forced him to regenerate.
Could Rose's face appearing mean the residual energy from the Time Vortex still exists within The Doctor? Interestingly enough, the Ninth Doctor theorized a Time Lord absorbing the Bad Wolf would result in "A vengeful god," which seems like an interesting comment to make considering The Doctor recently defeated a slew of gods taking on The Pantheon.
When Russell T. Davies spoke to CinemaBlend about the Pantheon, he said he had more stories to tell. Is it possible that the gods are targeting The Doctor because they ultimately hope to manipulate his own power with the time vortex, and harness it for their own means? What is the whole point of this plan? It feels like the Sixteenth Doctor may continue the story of the gods into its next act, assuming Bad Wolf is involved in any way.
This Is Just Another Case Of The Doctor Borrowing A Familiar Face
While The Doctor borrowing the face of a companion isn't familiar territory, this is not the first time we've seen him take a face we've seen before. The most recent example is how Tennant played both the Tenth and Fourteenth Doctor, but people may overlook another instance where this happened. Spoiler alert, his picture is shown above this paragraph.
Peter Capaldi was a prominent guest star in Doctor Who during the episode, "The Fires Of Pompeii," and then later became the Twelfth Doctor. The series didn't shy away from bringing that to the viewer's attention either, as The Doctor pretty immediately remarked he took on the face of Caecilius, the character Capaldi originally played.
In this instance, he figured the reason was that he needed a reminder that The Doctor helps people, just like Caecilius did. As someone who watched Capaldi's run at the time, I don't remember fans being too up in arms about the fact that the character was played by someone who was previously on the show as someone else. Then again, Caecilius was nowhere near as iconic of a character as Rose, so I think there are understandably a lot more reactions.
The concept, however, remains the same. The Doctor may have taken the face of Rose because she needs to be reminded of something that she'd previously forgotten. I think out of all the possibilities for why The Doctor looks like her, this is the cleanest one to pull off, making it the most likely. Russell T. Davies has surprised me before, however, so I don't expect we'll know until we see the series return for more episodes.
Doctor Who doesn't have a confirmed new season just yet, but I'm sure we'll get news on what's next for the series as the year goes on. Until then catch all of Ncuti Gatwa's run on Disney+, and keep an eye out for what's next for Earth's protector.
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