Full spoilers observe for Doctor Who Season 2, Episode 2, “Lux”.
Doctor Who’s newest episode, “Lux”, is a gloriously bizarre outing from showrunner Russell T Davies that delivers simply the best steadiness of chaos and appeal. But past the surface-level delights of its fourth-wall-breaking mischief, one thing about this episode is now rattling round in my mind and received’t sit nonetheless. Not solely as a result of it was entertaining, however as a result of it may be the smoking gun for one thing much more bold and unusual happening behind the scenes.
Over the previous few weeks, an more and more daring leaker identified solely as ‘Andrew’ has been dropping oddly particular plot particulars from Season 2 of Doctor Who (fifteenth of the revived period, and forty first of the collection total). Detailed, beat-by-beat spoilers, together with character returns, main twists, and even claims that Ncuti Gatwa is departing on the finish of the season, with no alternative in sight and one other Who-hiatus looming.
Normally, I’d file this beneath the standard noise and transfer on. Doctor Who followers and haters alike have at all times given off a little bit of a doomsday cult vibe. But, “Lux” has since aired, and one of many leaks was bang on: The Doctor and Belinda actually break by means of a TV display screen to speak with Doctor Who followers, as characters within the present, watching the episode. It’s an extremely meta, knowingly cliché gag, and an important fourth wall-breaking second. But most curiously, one of many followers turns to the digicam and says, “I knew this may occur as a result of it leaked on-line. #RIPDoctorWho.”
So what’s happening right here? That scene was filmed some two years in the past (Season 1 and a pair of had back-to-back manufacturing schedules) and can now definitely increase various eyebrows. And but, I can already see a couple of methods this may be taking part in out. First: Maybe it’s all only a coincidence. The leaks had been unintentional, and that standout line in “Lux” is solely a type of absurd, once-in-a-blue-moon alignments of fiction and actuality. The form of mind-bending prediction you’d anticipate from The Simpsons, and one which’s acquired me spiralling into conspiracy territory with nobody on the wheel. Still, weirder issues have occurred.
Second: Somehow, Russell T Davies had a prophet-like imaginative and prescient, noticed all of it coming two years prematurely, and wrote it in. Yeah, that’s additionally a little bit of a leap, so I extremely doubt it.
Third: What if the leaks aren’t unintended in any respect? There had been a pair from the opening episode that had been correct, and now some within the follow-up. Perhaps they had been planted intentionally, however solely small, largely innocent titbits, and are supposed to prime the fandom discussions with out giving an excessive amount of away. The relaxation? A bluff, simply noise to muddy the waters.
But indulge me in a fourth state of affairs for a second. What if there’s extra to this? If the leaks had been deliberate, I’m not totally satisfied the present would choose to solely mess with the core fandom simply the as soon as. Stay with me right here, however what if each single leak was planted as half of a bigger meta-marketing marketing campaign, with the story ultimately folding that chaos into itself? Light the kindling with the road from “Lux”, and watch it burn all the way in which to the finale as followers attempt to piece the season collectively, matching it as much as the leaked data and marvel if they’re getting performed, or if this is only one huge mess.
It may sound outlandish, however Davies has already been gleefully rewriting the principles of Doctor Who since his return. He’s not simply taking part in with type; he’s baked in fantastical parts, completely swapped “gravity” for “mavity,” pushed the present into unusual, reality-warping territory it’s by no means absolutely embraced earlier than, and thrown in various fourth wall breaks. What’s another step over the sting to him? And now this? It’s only a bit too on the nostril to disregard.
And what about that #RIPDoctorWho line? With no renewal announcement from Disney and radio silence from the BBC, Davies hasn’t precisely accomplished a lot to quell fears of a looming hiatus, even hinting at a break in interviews like his recent one on BBC’s Newsround. So preserving that line in feels… deliberate. It may’ve been reduce with out fuss.
Just how far does this go? Is Davies, in a devilishly meta bid for buzz, intentionally feeding the concept the leaks sign the present’s finish? It’s additionally not the one reference to the present’s supposed “finish” both, as “Lux” closes with Mrs Flood dropping this zinger: “If you need to see a very good present darling, I can suggest this one. Better warn you although, restricted run solely, present ends May the twenty fourth.”
On first impression, it’s simply one other playfully ominous line that harks again to the fourth wall breaks from earlier within the episode. But that May twenty fourth date isn’t random: it’s when half one of many season finale airs, and it’s additionally the precise date the Doctor is attempting to return companion Belinda to as a part of the season’s narrative arc. Doctor Who has flirted with airdate symmetry earlier than, however by no means this overtly, folding it proper into the script.
Taken along with the #RIPDoctorWho gag, these really feel much less like throwaway jokes and extra like morbidly self-aware nods to indicate’s recurring loss of life knells, written lengthy earlier than the present silence round its future. Or, maybe extra optimistically, these are meta breadcrumbs resulting in one thing far larger, like a shock recommission ready within the wings. Hopefully, it’s the latter.
Yet, if the present actually is weaponising fan anxiousness over its future, constructing a complete meta-marketing marketing campaign round it years prematurely… then it’s both a stroke of unhinged, runaway genius or the stupidest factor I’ve ever heard. I assume we’ll have to attend and see.
Robert Anderson is a offers professional and Senior Editor, Commerce, for IGN. You can observe him @robertliam21 on Twitter/X or Bluesky.
