Finally, we have details on John Simm’s impending return to Doctor Who
By Lacy Baugher
Doctor Who fans everywhere are anxiously awaiting John Simm’s return as the Master this season. And now we finally have details on when that will happen.
We’ve known for a while that John Simm was set to reprise his role as the Master this season on Doctor Who. But what we didn’t know was when. So, understandably, everyone pretty much assumed he’d be back in the season finale. It kind of makes the most sense, from a dramatic perspective. And, hey, that’s how it happened last time, anyway. The return of a popular actor, and the series’ first multiple-Master story? (Remember, Michelle Gomez is playing the current incarnation of this particular Time Lord at the moment.) Yeah, that’s totally got to be the final, end-of-season adventure. Possibly with a cliffhanger thrown in. Except, apparently, it’s not.
Per the Radio Times, Simm will actually be appearing in the season’s eleventh episode, entitled “World Enough and Time”. Steven Moffat wrote this particular installment, and it will air on Saturday, June 24. [Insert your own joke here about the sound of drums and how they’re getting louder.] Gomez is also listed among the cast for this episode, so it looks like our multi-Master story will take place a week before we expected it.
“World Enough and Time” will mark Simm’s first appearance on Doctor Who in seven years. (He was last scene in “The End of Time” opposite David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor.) We know virtually nothing about what his story during this return will involve. Ostensibly, it will somehow address the fact that the Master regenerated into the Mistress since the last time Simm appeared on the show. And the role is not a small one. The Radio Times reported earlier this year that Simm filmed for several weeks in Cardiff, which sure sounds like a more substantial appearance than a quick cameo or flashback.
And just because we know Simm will appear in the penultimate episode of Doctor Who season 10, doesn’t mean he won’t be in the finale as well. Moffat and company love some misdirection after all. Gomez herself was initially reported to only appear in three episodes this season – a total which she’s already hit, with more appearances to come. And all those reasons listed earlier for why Simm would probably show up in the season finale are still valid.
Next: It looks like Doctor Who could be sticking around a while
Doctor Who season 10 continues Saturday nights on BBC One and BBC America.