Warning: spoilers ahead for Doctor Who season 14, episode 6, “Rogue.”

Doctor Who lives up to its title as season 14 sneakily introduces a mystery face into the Doctor’s regeneration line, but this newcomer may actually be a ghost from the franchise’s past. Doctor Who periodically likes to remind audiences of old regenerations, whether via the scribbled drawings of John Smith in “Human Nature,” or when the Atraxi examined its records on Earth before promptly running away in “The Eleventh Hour.” The trope resurfaces in Doctor Who season 14, episode 6, “Rogue,” as Rogue’s ship scans the Doctor and conjures up a series of holograms depicting past regenerations.

Rogue’s scanner shows every actor who has played the Doctor in Doctor Who, ranging from William Hartnell’s First Doctor to Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth, as well as John Hurt’s War Doctor and Jo Martin’s Fugitive Doctor. In a deliberate curveball designed to ignite debate, however, the “Rogue” hologram sequence also includes an extra Doctor not immediately recognizable as any prior regeneration. Despite being a relatively fresh addition to Doctor Who‘s official canon, this Doctor may actually predate the entire modern era.

Doctor Who’s New Canon Doctor Appears To Be Richard E. Grant’s Shalka Doctor

The New Doctor Certainly Looks A Lot Like Richard E. Grant

The surprise Doctor nestled between William Hartnell and Tom Baker bears an undeniably strong resemblance to Richard E. Grant. The Withnail & I and Saltburn star previously portrayed Walter Simeon before becoming the face of the Great Intelligence in Matt Smith’s era, but also brought the Doctor themselves to life on two separate occasions. In 1999, Grant joined a procession of notable British actors parodying the Doctor in comedy sketch “The Curse of Fatal Death.” Four years later, Grant voiced his own likeness as the Doctor in BBC’s animated “Scream of the Shalka.”

Assuming the mystery hologram is indeed Richard E. Grant, it would make far more sense for it to be the Shalka Doctor than the Doctor from “The Curse of Fatal Death.” The latter was a spoof that involved flatulence and thinly-veiled innuendos, whereas “Scream of the Shalka” took the form of a legitimate animated production. Out of Grant’s two performances as the Doctor, “Scream of the Shalka” orbits official Doctor Who canon far more closely.

If the hologram does depict Richard E. Grant’s Shalka Doctor, then some alterations have clearly been made. The gothic paleness and razor-sharp sideburns from the animated version have been toned down, and Grant’s Doctor looks visibly older – closer to the actor’s age in 2024 than when he portrayed the Shalka Doctor in 2003. Regardless, it does appear that season 14 has officially inducted the Shalka Doctor into the show’s official line of Doctor Who regenerations.

Doctor Who’s “Scream Of The Shalka” Explained

A Forgotten Doctor Who Oddity That Was Rapidly Usurped

Written by Paul Cornell, who would later go on to pen episodes of Doctor Who‘s modern series, “Scream of the Shalka” was an official BBC production released in 2003 as an online exclusive – still something of a novelty at the time. Despite being animated, “Scream of the Shalka” was touted as a continuation of the original series and 1996 movie following Doctor Who‘s cancellation in 1989. Richard E. Grant’s Ninth Doctor occupied the darker end of the hero’s personality spectrum and took Sophie Okonedo’s Alison as his companion, but also traveled with a robotic version of the Master played by Derek Jacobi, who would ultimately reprise the role on TV.

Richard E. Grant would not reprise his role on TV, however. Russell T. Davies’ plot to bring Doctor Who back to mainstream prominence immediately outshone “Scream of the Shalka.” There would be no continuation of the online story, and Doctor Who‘s 2005 relaunch effectively scrubbed the chapter from canon entirely.

Where Doctor Who’s Shalka Doctor Fits Into The Doctor’s Timeline

Something That Was Already Wibbly-Wobbly Just Got Timey-Wimey

Officially speaking, the Shalka Doctor is an unofficial version of the Ninth Doctor. “Scream of the Shalka” debuted long after the failed Doctor Who TV movie with Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor, but shortly before Russell T Davies brought the franchise back to prominence and cast Christopher Eccleston as the actual Ninth Doctor for TV. RTD famously criticized Richard E. Grant’s take on the Doctor and confirmed the actor was never considered for playing the role in Doctor Who‘s modern era (via BBC).

This period of the Doctor’s timeline was complicated further by Steven Moffat, who squeezed a totally different Doctor – the War Doctor – between Eight and Nine. Paul McGann regenerated into John Hurt during “The Night of the Doctor,” then Hurt regenerated into Christopher Eccleston in the final moments of “The Day of the Doctor,” filling in any missing gaps from Doctor Who‘s void years between 1990 and 2005. Because of this, the Shalka Doctor does not fit easily into Doctor Who canon, but there are other ways of explaining how Richard E. Grant may now be considered a canon Doctor actor after “Rogue.”

Firstly, Doctor Who could retcon the Shalka Doctor into a pre-Hartnell Doctor, like Jo Martin. The arrival of the Fugitive Doctor and Doctor Who‘s subsequent Timeless Child twist confirmed the existence of an unspecified number of Doctors prior to the First. These regenerations called themselves “the Doctor” and acted like the Doctor, but were forgotten due to a Time Lord memory wipe. Richard E. Grant may now count himself among them.

On the other hand, Richard E. Grant’s Shalka Doctor could be a parallel universe Ninth Doctor. In 60th anniversary special “The Giggle,” the Toymaker claimed to have made a “jigsaw” out of the Doctor’s history – a line RTD himself described as loosening Doctor Who‘s canon rules in the episode’s commentary. The existence of a second Ninth Doctor could be the Toymaker’s fault, like most other strange occurrences in season 14.

Another possible explanation can be found in Doctor Who‘s bi-generation scene, also from “The Giggle.” According to RTD during his commentary, the Fourteenth Doctor’s bi-generation rippled through time, bringing all previous Doctors back to life. The Eighth Doctor, therefore, would have awoken on Karn, right as rain, and gotten on with his life. What happens to these bi-generated Doctors when they die is currently not known, so it’s feasible that when Paul McGann’s bi-generated Eighth Doctor next died after “The Night of the Doctor,” he regenerated into Richard E. Grant instead of Christopher Eccleston – an alternate Ninth Doctor.

The Doctor Isn’t Necessarily Aware Of Their New Regeneration

The New Doctor Opens Up An Intriguing Conversation: Does Fifteen Recognize Them?

One of the key questions from Doctor Who season 14’s hologram scene is whether Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor actually knows about this mysterious new face. Since the Division wiped the Doctor’s memory prior to Hartnell, Doctor Who‘s protagonist should only know about the regenerations that audiences are also familiar with: the main 15 plus Hurt and Martin. Strangely, however, Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor doesn’t so much as raise an eyebrow when an entirely new holographic face flashes before his eyes in Rogue’s ship.

At first glance, the Fifteenth Doctor’s lack of response might imply that he knows exactly who this mystery regeneration is and remembers the point in time when he looked like Richard E. Grant. On the other hand, the Fifteenth Doctor is somewhat occupied during Doctor Who season 14’s hologram scene, delivering an almighty monologue and trying to convince a bounty hunter not to kill him. One might also accuse the Doctor of being doubly distracted by his not-so-subtle attraction to Rogue. It’s possible, therefore, that the Doctor simply doesn’t notice the impostor among the holograms, nor that the procession contains one more Doctor than there should be.

Sources: BBC