Doctor Who Season 10 already promises to be full of surprises – including the return of a classic series villain. The Ice Warriors are coming back!
Doctor Who fans are naturally still reeling from the news that Twelfth Doctor Peter Capaldi will be leaving after the show’s tenth season. The announcement of the Doctor’s impending regeneration has left fans both uncertain and curious about what the show might look like in 2018. But it also reminded us all that we do still have an entire new season on the way this spring, and plenty of Twelve adventures still to come. And Season 10 already sounds like it will include a lot of surprises – including a familiar villain.
Longtime Doctor Who writer Mark Gatiss confirmed that Season 10 will see the return of classic monsters the Ice Warriors. Many of you probably know Gatiss from his role as a co-creator and co-star on Sherlock. But he has been a member of the Doctor Who writing team since the series returned in 2005. His episodes include “The Unquiet Dead”, “The Idiot’s Lantern”, “Victory of the Daleks”, “The Crimson Horror,” “Night Terrors” and more.
The Ice Warriors are a race of reptilian humanoid creatures who wear complicated suits of generally unattractive bio-mechanical armor. The last time we saw these classic monsters was in Gatiss’ 2013 episode “Cold War,” starring Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith. In it, the Doctor and Clara land on a Soviet submarine in 1983, where the crew discovered one of the creatures frozen in ice. Of course it breaks free, and terror and a potential intergalactic incident ensue. This episode marked the first appearance of the Ice Warriors in the “New Who” reboot era. Prior to “Cold War”, the monsters were last seen in the Third Doctor story “The Monster of Peladon”.
Gatiss originally had the idea to bring back the Ice Warriors in Season 7. And it appears he’s also responsible for their Season 10 return. He teased a bit of what we can expect from the creatures this time around.
In the video announcing their return, Gatiss promises the Ice Warriors’ story will be an adventure featuring “the kind of Jules Verne, Edgar Rice Burroughs story of derring-do, which I’ve always loved”. The as-yet-untitled episode will also have a new twist. “There’s a new Ice Warrior in it, a new kind of Ice Warrior,” Gatiss said.
What “new” actually means, of course, is anyone’s guess. Maybe the monsters will finally get some kind of wardrobe upgrade? That clunky body armor doesn’t seem terribly comfortable or great for combat.
Next: Peter Capaldi to Depart Doctor Who
The new season of Doctor Who will begin on April 15 on BBC America.