Doctor Who showrunner Russell T. Davies has just revealed drag queen Jinkx Monsoon's role in Doctor Who season 14... and it might mean we'll be seeing a new version of The Master very soon!
When Jinkx Monsoon was originally revealed, her precise role in the Whoniverse wasn't confirmed. All we knew at that time was that Monsoon would be playing a new villain, and her character had been labeled 'the Doctor's most powerful enemy yet'. Beyond that, and some promo shots of the character in a piano key-themed robe, we were left in the dark. But thanks to a recent interview with Empire Magazine, we finally have some fresh info about the character.
Davies has revealed that the new villain is called... Maestro, and he's described her villainous turn in the show as 'performance and a half'. Given her musical attire, it's perhaps no surprise that Maestro will be doing battle with the 15th Doctor, Ncuti Gatwa, in the season 14 episode, "The Devil's Chord".
This episode is one we already have more info about, as it's the same one that sees the new Time Lord and his companion Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) crossing paths with the Beatles down at Abbey Road Studios.
"Maestro", crucially, literally translates to "Master". And we've not head from the Doctor's archnemesis since the most recent incarnation (played by Sacha Dhawan) faced off with Jodie Whittaker in the 60th anniversary special, "The Power of The Doctor".
Could Jinkx Monsoon be on track to bring the beloved villain into the next era of Doctor Who? Or is the similarity purely coincidental? And will the new series contain any sequences worthy of making it onto our round-up of the greatest Doctor Who moments? We'll have to wait until the show returns to find out.
Luckily, we'll be seeing Ncuti's first full season of Doctor Who very soon. The hit sci-fi series returns on Saturday, May 11 to BBC One (with two episodes available to stream from midnight on BBC iPlayer). New episodes will drop on a weekly basis.
Outside of the UK, the series is streaming on its international streaming home of Disney Plus from Friday, May 10 at 7 pm ET, again with a two-episode premiere.
