Doctor Who season 12 will reportedly feature the return of iconic villains, the Cybermen. Making their debut during the First Doctor’s era, the Cybermen are human minds augmented with cybernetic bodies and turned into emotionless killing machines intent on assimilating or deleting all biological life. The villains were last seen teaming up with both the John Simm and Michelle Gomez incarnations of the Master, ultimately causing the regeneration of Peter Capaldi’s Twelfth Doctor and the tragic death of his companion, Bill Potts.
The Cybermen did not feature in Jodie Whittaker’s debut run at the helm of the TARDIS, but that was merely part of a larger pattern that saw Doctor Who‘s most recent season intentionally distance itself from the franchise’s history. Doctor Who season 11 featured no villains from the show’s past and marked a deliberate shift in tone and visual style, with both a new Doctor and new showrunner in the form of Chris Chibnall. After that semi-reboot, it already appears that Doctor Who season 12 will feel more like the Davies and Moffat eras, and former foes such as the Judoon have already been confirmed for the upcoming batch of episodes.
According to reports from The Mirror, however, the Judoon will not be the only familiar faces Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor will come up against in season 12, with the Cybermen also set to feature. As per the original report, season 12 will feature a story revolving around Frankenstein author, Mary Shelley, who will encounter the Doctor and the Cybermen, with the metallic baddies providing inspiration for Shelley’s most famous work.
This plot certainly sounds like a classic Doctor Who trope, as previous Doctors have met with Earth’s most important historical figures and unwittingly motivated them to create the very things that made them famous. Notable examples include battling ghosts with Charles Dickens, quoting Shakespeare’s own lines back to him before he’d written them and solving a murder mystery with Agatha Christie. While historical stories have been a part of Doctor Who since the 1960s, these paradoxical moments have created some of the show’s most memorable modern episodes.
If the Cybermen are eventually confirmed to appear in Doctor Who season 12, this would represent yet another step back towards a sense of familiarity. Jodie Whittaker’s casting as the first female Doctor was predicted to divide fans, but season 11’s stories and tone actually ended up causing far more controversy, with some believing the fresh approach saved Doctor Who and others feeling that the show had strayed too far from its roots. The potential return of the Cybermen is certainly something that would help Doctor Who fans feel right at home once again.
Doctor Who season 12 premieres in 2020 on the BBC.
