Gallifrey’s history in Doctor Who is long and complicated, largely owing to the fact that the Doctor’s homeworld has been destroyed not once, but twice. First depicted in the 1969 serial The War Games, Gallifrey is the home planet of the Time Lords, the race of people to which the Doctor belongs. Over the years, Doctor Who has returned to Gallifrey on a number of occasions. The last time it appeared onscreen, however, Gallfrey was completely obliterated for the second time.

Despite its habit of being destroyed, Gallifrey has played a part in some of Doctor Who‘s greatest stories, and throughout the show’s run, has been the setting for some truly dramatic sci-fi moments. With Doctor Who season 14 just around the corner, it’s possible that Gallifrey might once again play a key role in the show.

The Master Destroyed Gallifrey In Doctor Who Season 12

The Doctor’s Worst Enemy Did It Out Of Sheer Jealousy

In the opening two-parter of Doctor Who season 12, titled “Spyfall”, the Master (Sacha Dhawan) tells the Thirteenth Doctor (Jodie Whitaker) that Gallifrey has been destroyed. At the end of the story, the Doctor returned to her homeworld to find it in ruins. A recorded hologram of the Master informed the Doctor that her old foe was responsible for the destruction. After learning a terrible secret regarding the origins of the Time Lords, the Master took matters into his own hands and wiped out his people. The secret that the Master discovered is to be that of the Timeless Child.

In the season 12 finale, Doctor Who’s The Master used the Matrix to inform the Doctor that, despite what she has been told, she is not originally from Gallifrey and that her unique regenerative powers were used as the foundation of Time Lord society. The Doctor’s memories were erased and she, along with most other Time Lords, were lied to for centuries. The Master, bitter about the Doctor’s status as the Timeless Child, converted the corpses of the Time Lords into cybermen and uses a death particle to obliterate all organic life on the planet. The Doctor and her companions narrowly survived.

Gallifrey Had Only Just Been Rediscovered After Doctor Who’s Time War

The Planet Was Destroyed Twice In The Space Of A Few Years

The Master’s attack on Gallifrey wasn’t the first time the planet had been wiped out of existence. When Doctor Who was brought back in 2005, the show introduced the idea of the Time War, a massive conflict between the Time Lords, the Daleks, and other races that resulted in the destruction of Gallifrey and the extinction of the Time Lords. For modern Doctor Who’s first few seasons, the Doctor was thought to be the last of their kind until the Master showed up in season 3. Eventually, the Time Lords briefly returned in “The End of Time.”

The 50th Anniversary special, “The Day of the Doctor,” explored the events surrounding the Time War in greater depth than ever before. The episode confirmed what had previously been hinted at – that it was the Doctor who was ultimately responsible for killing the Time Lords. As the War Doctor – a previously unknown incarnation between the Eighth and Ninth Doctors – the Doctor used a weapon known as the Moment to annihilate every single Time Lord and Dalek in order to bring the war to an end.

However, the same episode also depicts the War Doctor, with the help of his Tenth and Eleventh incarnations, saving Gallifrey at the last minute by freezing it in time within a pocket universe. Essentially, both Gallifrey and the Time Lords survive intact, but their exact whereabouts are unknown. The season 9 episode finale, “Hell Bent” involves the Doctor returning to Gallifrey for the first time since it was saved. It was also the only time Gallifrey was shown onscreen before it was ultimately destroyed again in season 12.

Can’t The Doctor Travel Back To Before Gallifrey Was Destroyed?

The TARDIS Is A Handy Tool, But It Can’t Fix Every Problem

Though Doctor Who is a show about time travel, there are strict rules that prevent the Doctor from doing whatever they want. Otherwise, every episode of Doctor Who would involve the Doctor encountering a threat, then immediately using the TARDIS to travel back in time to prevent the threat from ever existing. Episodes would be repetitive, and they’d be over pretty quickly. As such, there are reasons that stop the Doctor from simply using time travel to avert the Master’s destruction of Gallifrey.

For starters, the show regularly brings up the idea of fixed points in time. While they aren’t always obvious to the viewer, fixed points in time are key historical events that must not be meddled with, otherwise there could be dramatic consequences. Doctor Who previously explored this notion in the episode, “The Fire of Pompeii,” where the Doctor was forced to let the people of Pompeii die because any intervention on his part would’ve resulted in further catastrophe. It’s likely that the destruction of Gallifrey, a massive event, is a fixed point, and therefore, the Doctor cannot prevent it.

Additionally, because of Gallifrey’s status as being time-locked in a pocket universe, even if the Doctor did want to go back to back, it wouldn’t be easy. The Doctor spent a long time searching for Gallifrey after it had been restored with no luck. The only reason he ended up on Gallifrey in season 9 was because he was brought there by the Time Lords. Even in season 12, it is the Master who takes the Doctor to Gallifrey. All in all, the Doctor probably won’t be using the TARDIS to save Gallifrey again any time soon.

Are Any Time Lords Still Alive?

It’s Possible Some May Have Escaped

Theoretically, the Doctor is, once again, the last of his kind. “The Timeless Child” implies that every Time Lord other than the Doctor and the Master has been killed and, following the Master’s own demise in “The Power of the Doctor”, that just leaves the Doctor. Dialogue from the 60th anniversary special, as well as the 2024 Christmas episode, “The Church on Ruby Road”, and Doctor Who season 14 trailer, appear to confirm that the Doctor is the last surviving Time Lord again.

That being said, Doctor Who is a show that is constantly changing and not many people stay dead for long. For example, the Master has died on multiple occasions, only to be resurrected again and again. The fact that the Time Lords have already been killed off and brought back once before demonstrates that they can (and probably will) be revived at some point in the future. There has been lots of speculation that a Time Lord character such as the Master, the Rani, or the meddling Monk could appear in the upcoming season 14, though nothing has been confirmed.

Gallifrey Can Still Return In Doctor Who

It’s Been Brought Back Once Before

Much like the Master and the rest of the Time Lords, Gallifrey’s destruction likely isn’t permanent. The last time Gallifrey was supposedly wiped from existence, never to be seen again, it was restored seven seasons later. How exactly it will return is hard to say. Following Gallifrey’s first destruction, it took thirteen incarnations of the Doctor to save it. While it’s certainly possible that every known version of the Doctor could once again band together to rescue their homeworld, it seems unlikely. It’s also doubtful that the pocket universe ex machina will be used a second time.

Whatever the case, Gallifrey’s return to Doctor Who is almost inevitable. After all, the planet is so closely tied to who the Doctor is, and with the Timeless Child storyline still unresolved, it feels like Gallifrey is once again where the series is headed. Though Gallifrey’s habit of being obliterated is somewhat repetitive, Doctor Who is, arguably, a better show when the Doctor is the last of his kind. The Time Lords and Gallifrey work well in small doses, and a permanent return for both could harm the show.