Fans are finally getting some details about what they can expect from Doctor Who series 13, with the newly subtitled Doctor Who: Flux releasing teasers and background information for Jodie Whittaker’s next collection of adventures.
Despite this, we’re all still a bit in the dark about what’ll actually happen in the series. But fans have begun to wonder whether one particular piece of promo – a new generic image of Whittaker in front of an unusual background – could be hinting at the scale a nature of the story we’re getting in Flux.
!["Doctor]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2021/10/Jodie-Whittaker-series-13-f355bac.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413" "\"Picture")
Stop us if you’ve heard this one before (especially if you’re a Disney Plus subscriber), but what if… Doctor Who is presenting its own multiverse? The series has strayed into the realm of parallel worlds before (most notably in 2006’s alternative-Cyberman story Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel), and some people now think the series could be returning to that furrow in Flux.
Like in the MCU, the Multiverse is coming ????#DoctorWho #Series13 #DoctorWhoFlux #JodieWhittaker https://t.co/TpyJ8IZvXY
— Spooky 13th (@13th_Doctor_off) October 9, 2021
Their reasoning? If you look at the coloured lines behind Jodie Whittaker in this new image, you can see them start to warp and become more erratic towards the right. To many, this looks a lot like peacefully parallel timelines suddenly in…flux…in danger of smashing into each other and putting all of existence in danger.
I’m behind on all this DW news. I like the idea of ‘Flux’ and think/hope it ties into why time has been swirling around the Doctor. Secretly hoping it’s an alternate universe thing (which would explain Gallifrey/Timeless Children etc.
— alex (@alex_who_o) October 9, 2021
Look, it’s not exactly watertight reasoning – but there are other suggestions that Doctor Who could be going multiversal. Lest we forget, 2020’s finale The Timeless Children revealed that the Doctor herself was from “another unknown dimension or universe,” having apparently come through a “boundary” and with an unknown origin.
Considering 2021 New Year’s special Revolution of the Daleks had the Doctor decide to investigate her now-mysterious past, who’s to say that this hasn’t led her to try and discover her universe of origin? And given how dangerous we’ve seen interdimensional travel was in episodes past (namely the 2006 series), maybe it’s this investigation that ends up sparking off the Thirteenth Doctor’s own multiverse of madness?
Feel like we could have multiverse doctors this season on #DoctorWho
— Francis Reyes (@TheFrancisReyes) October 9, 2021
Exactly what this could mean for the storylines is intriguing – could we see parallel versions of familiar characters? – assuming, of course, that we haven’t all lost our minds over a bit of colourful artwork. Either way, we’ll be watching closely for any more clues that could support this theory.
And hey – in another parallel universe to our own, it definitely is true. So we’re right somewhere…
Doctor Who returns to BBC One on Sunday 31st October. For more, check out our dedicated Sci-Fi page or our full TV Guide.