Has the main villain for Doctor Who series 10 been revealed?
A creepy-looking new monster is front and centre in the new trailer for Peter Capaldi’s final series
A new trailer for Peter Capaldi’s final series of Doctor Who has just arrived, and while it’s not particularly long (just 30 seconds, in fact) it contains a few juicy details about what we can expect from series 10 of the sci-fi stalwart.
And perhaps chief among these hints are the suggestion of a major foe for the Time Lord and his companions (Pearl Mackie’s Bill and Matt Lucas’ Nardole) this year, who appears right at the end of the footage.
Watch below, and see if you can spot them.
No? How about now?
Yeah, now you’re getting it.
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You see, towards the end of the clip the trailer shows the Doctor and friends facing a smokey montage of classic Who foes (and there’s a sentence you don’t see every day), before one blasts ahead of the others and grows in size, suggesting a particular significance this series.
However, it’s initially unclear who exactly these monsters are. At first glance they resemble a version of the new series’ Silurians (or Homo Reptilia), underground-dwelling humanoid reptiles who the Doctor has had several dealings with over the past few years.
But on closer inspection it seems more likely that these are the rumoured new version of classic foes the Ice Warriors, who were announced to be returning by series writer Mark Gatiss earlier this month.
"I'm bringing back the Ice Warriors again, one of my favourite monsters,” Gatiss said at the time. “It's a thrill a minute. A sort of Bank Holiday Monday feel, the kind of Jules Verne, Edgar Rice Burroughs story of derring-do, which I've always loved.
"But it has a new twist. There is a new Ice Warrior in it, a new kind of Ice Warrior."
The creatures at the end of the trailer certainly look like they could be this new spin on the aliens, with the texture of their masks, their exposed chins and dark eye holes all resembling a more streamlined version of the classic design (recently updated for 2013 episode Cold War, also by Gatiss, as you can see below).
Still, if it is the Ice Warriors their prominence in the trailer seems like an odd move. Gatiss’ comments had previously suggested that the creatures would only appear in a one-off story, whereas their starring role in the trailer could seem to hint that they’ll have a larger hand in the whole series.
But then again, it could just be that Gatiss and Steven Moffat just fancied showing off their cool new design, and we could be overthinking the whole thing. Wouldn’t be the first time…
Whatever the truth, it certainly seems like we’ve got some exciting new enemies for the Doctor and friends to face when the series returns this Spring. Forget the “Time for Heroes” branding around the new trailer – from the looks of thing, this is really the Time for (supercool) Villains.
Doctor Who returns to BBC1 on Saturday 15th April
