What next for ‘Doctor Who’ after ‘Empire of Death’

Sutekh’s Empire of Death has crumbled. And with it, Ncuti Gatwa‘s first season of Doctor Who (a.k.a. Season 14 of the show that was rebooted in 2005) is in the books. 

While some plot threads were tied up neatly (the Susan Twist mystery; the search for Ruby Sunday’s real mum), others remained teased but untied. 

So since the TARDIS is no longer being dogged by the canine-headed god of death, here are the big questions that will continue to dog Whovian brains until Season 15 hits our screens — starting with another Christmas special in December 2024, then continuing with another 8 episodes in 2025. 

Who is Mrs. Flood? 

Appearing at the end of “Empire of Death” in a fetching new white fur outfit on a rooftop of snow, Mrs. Flood (Anita Dobson) warns us that the Doctor’s story ends in “absolute terror.” But how does she know? And who is she, anyway?

We already knew that Mrs. Flood knows our hero (whom she called a “clever boy” when her life was restored in “Empire of Death”) and his machine (which she identified as a TARDIS in the season opener, “The Church on Ruby Road.” We know she died lamenting her “many plans” and that she always seems “to hide myself away.”

That latter statement seems to be the most telling. In the same episode (“Legend of Ruby Sunday”), the Doctor noted that Time Lords sometimes change faces in order to hide themselves. Could Mrs. Flood be a Time Lady, then? A new version of Missy, or perhaps the Doctor’s much-teased granddaughter Susan?   

Which other ‘Pantheon’ gods will the Doctor meet?

The Toymaker, The Maestro and Sutekh: all defeated, at least for now. But there are other gods in the so-called Pantheon, as outlined by Harriet Arbinger in “The Legend of Ruby Sunday,” and some of them have been in the show already. There’s the Mara, which hails from the Peter Davison era. There’s the Trickster, from the spin-off show The Sarah Jane Adventures. And there’s the “threefold deity of malice, mischief, and misery” — unidentified as of yet, but a clear tease for upcoming adventures (as well as a way to launch a thousand fan theories as to which classic villain or villains this god could represent).

What’s with the fourth-wall breaking?

Mrs. Flood has now talked directly to camera three times. The Maestro specifically noticed and winked at it several times in “The Devil’s Chord.” And the Doctor winked at camera right before the “Twist at the End” song in that same story. Is this a power that members of the Pantheon have – in which case, the Doctor himself is in the Pantheon – or some other unexplained twist? 

How will the Doctor and Ruby Sunday reunite?

“Ruby Sunday, I will see you again,” the Doctor said as he coldly kicked his friend out of the TARDIS. But that fact wasn’t exactly a spoiler. Meanwhile, Mrs. Flood said that the story of “Ruby Road” had come to an end, not Ruby’s story itself.

We know Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) is coming back for season 2, alongside a new companion played by Varada Sethu. We know Nicola Coughlin of Broadchurch and Derry Girls fame is in the Christmas special, called “Joy to the World” and written by former showrunner Steven Moffat. But will Ruby also be in the Christmas special, or does she get a well-earned holiday break with her new family?  

Will the Doctor meet Susan again?

“Maybe I’ll find her one day,” the Doctor said casually to Ruby. We certainly hope so! Carole Ann Ford, who played Susan in 1963-4, plus once in 1983, is now aged 84. Russell T Davies, showrunner and classic Who fan, had better have filmed her regeneration scene already. 

Will the Doctor find out more about his background?

The Doctor has known (s)he’s an orphan since the controversial “Timeless Child” reveal in the Jodie Whittaker era: basically, (s)he has lived countless lives since being found by a portal, and a shadowy Time Lord organization kept wiping his/her memories of those regenerations that go back beyond the early history of the show. Davies has already signaled his willingness to incorporate the Timeless Child into his stories this season. 

So is that search for his origins going somewhere in the 15th Doctor’s era? It may perhaps be connected to “bi-generation,” the concept Davies introduced in Gatwa’s first episode, “The Giggle.” Davies tells Mashable that bi-generation gets a shout-out in season 15. Will we learn that it has happened before – perhaps creating the evil version of the Doctor, the Valeyard? 

How will the Doctor meet his new companion?

Varada Sethu showed up unexpectedly in the season 14 episode “Boom!” Does that mean the Doctor will be meeting her character, an Anglican Marine named Mundy Flynn, or just someone else who happens to look like her? There’s precedent for the latter: Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman) appeared in multiple “splinter” versions of her character, as did Susan Twist. 

But don’t expect Doctor Who to repeat this formula too much. After all, as the Doctor told us in season 14, there’s always a twist at the end.

How to watch: All Gatwa’s first season of Doctor Who is on Disney+, where available, and on BBC iPlayer in the UK.