Doctor Who Reveals Its Season 1 Villain, and It’s Exactly Who Fans Predicted

• The Doctor Who Season 1 penultimate episode reveals the return of the powerful god Sutekh in a shocking twist.
• Fans theorized Sutekh’s return based on breadcrumbs left throughout the season by showrunner Russell T Davies.
• Sutekh’s transformation into a true god raises questions about his origins and ties to other supernatural beings in the Whoniverse.

The Doctor Who Season 1 finale has begun. “The Legend of Ruby Sunday” kicks off a two-part finale that brings many season-long mysteries to a head. Ruby’s mother is on the verge of being unveiled, the truth behind the mysterious woman played by Susan Twist has been revealed and the true identity of the One Who Waits is now known. Over the course of the season and its preceding specials, Doctor Who has introduced a range of supernatural beings hailing from beyond the universe, belonging to a pantheon of gods. The Doctor has already faced off against the Toymaker and his child, Maestro, but now he must confront the most powerful of all the gods.

Since the Toymaker first referenced the One Who Waits in “The Giggle,” Doctor Who fans have been busy theorizing who this big bad might turn out to be. A number of theories emerged, including rogue Time Lords like the Valeyard, the Rani and Omega, or other godlike beings, such as the Trickster and Fenric. However, one theory rose to prominence above all others: that Susan Triad Technology would be shortened to “Sue Tech,” hailing the return of the God of Death, Sutekh. As “The Legend of Ruby Sunday” raced to its conclusion, the name of Sutekh was revealed in exactly this way and the classic villain materialized in a horrifying new form, with the TARDIS in his grasp.

Doctor Who Season 1’s Long Path to Sutekh

As ever, Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies left a trail of breadcrumbs scattered throughout the first season of his return to Doctor Who, leading fans to the finale’s big reveal, and occasionally leading them astray. The biggest hint Doctor Who fans have had of a higher power at play has been the presence of Susan Twist’s mystery character everywhere the TARDIS landed. After first appearing as Isaac Newton’s maid, Mrs. Merridew, in “Wild Blue Yonder,” Twist has been a pub patron, a comms officer, a tea lady, an AI ambulance, a hiker, the mother of Lindy Pepper-Bean and the deceased mother of a duke. “The Legend of Ruby Sunday” featured Twist’s biggest character yet, the tech billionaire Susan Triad.

Susan Triad is the head of Triad Technology, rebranded S Triad Technology in the months following “The Church on Ruby Road.” The Doctor is quick to realize what many fans, and everyone at UNIT, had picked up on: S Triad is an anagram of “TARDIS.” This had led some fans to believe Susan Twist was playing a human incarnation of the TARDIS. At times, “The Legend of Ruby Sunday” even suggested the TARDIS itself may be the season’s big bad, as UNIT detected it at the heart of a mysterious energy source. While the Sue Tech homophone proved more pertinent than the S Triad anagram, the TARDIS tease wasn’t a complete red herring.

Kate Lethbridge-Stewart confirmed Sutekh was woven into the fabric of the TARDIS. Sutekh’s harbinger, Harriet, even proclaimed that Sutekh “whispered to the vessel … and the vessel did obey.” This could imply Susan Triad was created by Sutekh via the TARDIS. “The Legend of Ruby Sunday” also attempted to throw viewers off the scent of the final reveal by shifting the focus to Susan Triad’s first name. As the Doctor points out, Susan was the name of his granddaughter.Played by Carole Ann Ford, Susan was the very first companion of William Hartnell’s First Doctor. She ultimately parted ways with the Doctor at the end of “The Dalek Invasion of Earth,” when she chose to remain on Earth with the freedom fighter David Campbell.

The Doctor theorized that Susan Triad may be his granddaughter, having regenerated. When she was revealed as a harbinger of Sutekh, however, Susan Triad sneered at this idea, suggesting the Doctor had been deliberately tricked into thinking she might be his family. Outside of Susan Triad, various other teases have hinted at the arrival of Doctor Who Season 1’s big bad. The Toymaker first mentions the One Who Waits to the Doctor in “The Giggle,” telling the Fourteenth Doctor that he ran from the One Who Waits, the only player he dares not challenge. Later, in “The Devil’s Chord,” the Toymaker’s offspring, Maestro, tells the Doctor that the One Who Waits is almost here.

“The Devil’s Chord” features another nod to Sutekh as well. When Ruby tells the Doctor that the world didn’t end in 1963 and music still exists in 2024, he takes her back to 2024 in the TARDIS, revealing a post-apocalyptic alternate future that would unfold if they did not stop Maestro. The Fourth Doctor did the same thing with Sarah Jane Smith when they faced Sutekh in “Pyramids of Mars,” after Sarah Jane had pointed out to the Doctor that they already knew Sutekh did not destroy the world in 1911.

Who is Sutekh on Doctor Who?

While many fans had figured out Sutekh was about to make his Doctor Who return ahead of “The Legend of Ruby Sunday,” in many ways the villain was still an unusual choice for the season finale. Unlike the Daleks, the Cybermen and the Master, who have dominated previous Doctor Who finales, Sutekh is not a particularly well-known Doctor Who villain. While long-time fans are likely to be familiar with Sutekh’s name, general audiences would probably not be aware of the villain’s Doctor Who history and even many New Who fans are unlikely to have seen Sutekh’s only previous Doctor Who appearance. Prior to “The Legend of Ruby Sunday,” Sutekh had previously only appeared in one classic Doctor Who story: 1975’s “Pyramids of Mars.”

This story saw Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor and Elisabeth Sladen’s Sarah Jane Smith traveling to 1911, at a time when the archaeologist Marcus Scarman was excavating an Egyptian pyramid. During his excavation, Scarman unwittingly discovered the prison of Sutekh, a powerful member of an ancient alien species called Osirans, who became the basis for Ancient Egyptian mythology. Scarman was killed by Sutekh and his corpse was reanimated to serve as the god’s servant, which could well be an echo of what happened to the original iteration of Susan Triad, explaining her skull-like appearance in the final moments of “The Legend of Ruby Sunday.”

Throughout “Pyramids of Mars,” Sutekh’s minions use a space-time tunnel to travel to the priory where Scarman lived, which would prove to be Sutekh’s undoing. Sutekh was kept imprisoned beneath an Egyptian pyramid, trapped by the power of the Eye of Horus, which was stored in the pyramid of Mars. Scarman succeeded in destroying the Eye, freeing Sutekh, who then attempted to travel through the space-time tunnel. However, the Doctor shifted the tunnel’s exit point to several thousand years in the future, aging Sutekh to death when he entered it. Or so it seemed, until “The Legend of Ruby Sunday.”

Interestingly, Sutekh was originally a member of an alien race, the Osirans, who hailed from the planet of Phaester Osiris. This sets him apart from other gods, such as the Toymaker and Maestro, who originate from the realms outside the universe. Sutekh’s return, as creator and ruler of the gods, seems to contradict his earlier origin. However, the Osirans did possess godlike power, and it is not yet clear how Sutekh survived the effects of the space-time tunnel. Perhaps he escaped the tunnel by exiting regular time and space, fleeing into the void, where he exercised his powers to create other gods and elevate himself.

Sutekh’s Return to Doctor Who

Ever since the Not-Things and the Toymaker appeared in Doctor Who‘s 60th anniversary specials, the series has been hurtling towards the reveal of the most powerful of the gods. Sutekh may not be a well-known villain, but he is one of the most powerful foes the Doctor has ever faced, making his return a suitably cinematic conclusion to Season 1. This new era of Doctor Who has already proved more obscure villains can win over new viewers. Neil Patrick Harris’ take on the Toymaker breathed new life into a villain who had also only appeared in one previous story.

The transformation of Sutekh into a true god, rather than just a powerful alien, is a plot point the new series of Doctor Who is yet to explain. This will likely be explored in the season finale, “Empire of Death,” and may be tied to how he survived destruction in the space-time tunnel. It’s also possible that Sutekh’s home world of Phaester Osiris is not, in fact, a part of this universe and that the Osirans hail from beyond the universe, like the other gods. Interestingly, it is suggested Sutekh is the creator of the other gods. This gives him precedence over previous supernatural Whoniverse characters, such as the Toymaker, Maestro and the Trickster, all of whom are named by Harriet Arbinger as lesser gods.

Sutekh is voiced by Gabriel Woolf, the same actor who played the role in Doctor Who‘s classic series, in a fitting return. However, this isn’t the first time Woolf’s voice has featured in a revival-era Doctor Who story and his previous role may offer some insight into the series’ new approach to Sutekh. In 2006’s “The Impossible Planet” and “The Satan Pit,” Woolf voiced the Beast — an unexplained entity of inexplicable power, thought to be the actual devil. The Beast claimed to be the living reality behind the devils and dark gods of all the religions of the universe. Sutekh fills this role in Egyptian mythology and so it is possible that he and the Beast are different forms of the same character, or that there is at least a connection between the two.

The Doctor Who Season 1 finale, “Empire of Death,” debuts Friday, June 21 on Disney+ and Saturday, June 22 on BBC iPlayer.