Warning: spoilers ahead for Doctor Who season 14’s finale, “Empire of Death.”
Summary
Doctor Whoseason 14’s finale borrowed a controversial idea fromStar Wars: The Last Jedi, but one franchise executed the twist far better than the other. Of the many running mysteries woven throughoutDoctor Whoseason 14, the secret of Ruby Sunday’s parentage was arguably the most seismic. That storyline ended in shocking fashion when “Empire of Death” unveiled Ruby’s supposedly-mystical mother as a regular woman, proving Ruby never held any cosmic significance, despite what the Doctor - andDoctor Who’s audience - had come to believe.
TheRuby Sunday twist inDoctor Whoseason 14’s finalefeels eerily similar to a famous - or infamous, from a certain point of view - revelation inThe Last Jedi. The idea that Daisy Ridley’s Rey was special, and that her parents were figures of great significance, was seeded inThe Force Awakens, but Kylo Ren stepped up inThe Last Jedito reveal Rey was “no one.” Her parents were ordinary, and Rey was never some fated cog in the universe’s ever-turning mechanism.Doctor WhoshowrunnerRussell T Davies has confirmedThe Last Jediinspired Ruby’s story, but only one franchise actually pulled it off.
Doctor Who Season 14 Ending Explained
With Sutekh, Ruby’s mother, and Mrs. Flood, Doctor Who season 14’s finale is packed with major reveals and shocking moments worthy of a closer look.
Why The Last Jedi’s “Rey Is No One” Twist Worked
Star Wars Didn’t Need Another Chosen One
Between 2015 and 2017, there was widespread expectation among theStar Warsfaithful that Rey would ultimately be revealed as the descendant of a famous character. This belief was driven partly by online theories and partly byStar Wars' expanded universe, which heavily featured the offspring of Luke, Leia, and Han. The intense speculation over Rey’s hidden backstory was fueled further by fairly overt hints sprinkled throughout 2015’sThe Force Awakens, which seemed to be laying the foundations for a major twist regarding Rey’s parents.
It is easy to understand, then, whyThe Last Jediconfirming Rey as a random protagonist with no prior connection to theStar Warsuniverse could be deemed anticlimactic and disappointing. At the very least, backtracking afterThe Force Awakenswas always going to prove divisive. On the other hand,The Last Jedi’s Rey twistworked on both a logical and thematic level.
The Last Jedimade a worthy statement that the Force is about more than just a select handful of characters and their kids.
In logical terms,Rey being “no one” made perfect sense, slotting into theStar Warsnarrative far better than Daisy Ridley’s character being outed as some classic hero’s long-lost daughter. Most crucially,The Force Awakensprovided no concrete signs that Rey’s past hid a wider connection toStar Wars' story. The only details provided by the sequel trilogy’s opening installment were that Rey’s parents abandoned her on Jakku, and that Rey possessed surprising strength with the Force. Nothing aboutThe Last Jedi’s Rey solution contradicted or rubbed awkwardly against anything established byThe Force Awakens.
Thematically, Rian Johnson’s decision to make Rey a nobody served a purpose beyond merely subverting viewer expectations. Rey’s disconnection fromStar Wars' history served as a timely and much-needed reminder that Jedi needn’t carry the surname “Skywalker” to be destined for greatness.Star Warsis littered with legendary Jedi whose backstories and parentage bear no importance, and by cementing Rey as a hero in her own right, free from lineage or name,The Last Jedimade a worthy statement that the Force is about more than just a select handful of characters and their kids.
The Last Jedi Has Aged Far Better Than Force Awakens & Rise Of Skywalker
Star Wars: The Last Jedi has only got better since it first released, but the same cannot be said for The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker.
The Last Jedi’s big Rey twist made her infinitely more interesting too, as the orphan struggled to comprehend Kylo Ren’s claim that her parents were no-good junkers who sold their own child. With this,The Last Jediimplied that Rey clung to the idea of her parents having a deep, meaningful reason to abandon her because it was preferable to the alternative. Learning to accept the truth would have represented huge growth for the sequel trilogy’s protagonist.
Why Doctor Who Season 14’s Ruby Sunday Twist Doesn’t Work
Doctor Who Season 14 Fumbles Its Most Anticipated Reveal
By understanding whyThe Last Jedi’s Rey twist was a clever piece of storytelling, one can dissect whyDoctor Whoseason 14’s attempt to emulate it met with less success. The most notable difference between the two lies in the logic behind each twist. WhileThe Last Jediavoided direct conflicts withThe Force Awakens,Doctor Who’s version fails to hold up anywhere near as well to scrutiny.
Doctor Whoteased Ruby’s background in various ways ahead of the big reveal, and not all of these details add up after “Empire of Death.“Doctor Whodid not, for example, provide a clear explanation for how Ruby, an ordinary human, kept making snow fall throughout season 14. Likewise, there is no obvious way to address the Doctor’s memory of Christmas Eve changing in “Space Babies,” nor why the Time Window couldn’t see Louise’s face.
Ruby saves the day not because she’s a timeless TARDIS creature from Trenzalore and Clara Oswald’s cousin’s roommate twice-removed, but because she has courage and heart.
Doctor Whoresorted to a catch-all explanation based around the universe bestowing an ordinary woman with great importance because everyone thought she was greatly important, butthe power of belief does too much heavy lifting for the twist to feel earned. Then there are the more fundamental flaws in how the conclusion ofDoctor Who’s Ruby story compares to the breadcrumbs dropped beforehand.
The mystery womanDoctor Whohad been following since 2023’s Christmas special was a 15-year-old trying to conceal her identity while giving away her baby. Quite why a teenage girl in 2000s Britain would don a long black cloak instead of a normal hooded coat is hard to fathom. Such a garment would draw attention on any given UK street. It also feels odd that Ruby’s biological mother, a registered nurse with her vacation photos uploaded to the internet, wasn’t found earlier. Genuine episodes ofLong Lost Families- the real-life show Ruby contacted inDoctor Who’s Christmas special - have unearthed estranged relatives with less.
Ruby Sunday’sDoctor Whostory fares better from a thematic standpoint, but still falls short ofThe Last Jedi. Just like theStar Warsmovie,Doctor Whoseason 14’s finale peddles the notion that anyone can be a hero, casting aside the “chosen one” narrative in favor of a more grounded, ordinary truth. Ruby saves the day not because she’s a timeless TARDIS creature from Trenzalore and Clara Oswald’s cousin’s roommate twice-removed, but because she has courage and heart. By itself, that is a worthwhile moral.
Is Millie Gibson’s Ruby Sunday Returning In Doctor Who Season 15
Millie Gibson’s future as Ruby Sunday in Doctor Who season 15 was already confusing, but becomes even more so after season 14’s final episode.
Ruby’s normal-ness did not, however, ring quite as nicely asThe Last Jedirevealing Rey as “no one.” The underlying purpose of Rey’s parents being unimportant was to highlight how Ridley’s character could still be the galaxy’s hero without it being written in the stars or dictated by her heritage.
Doctor Whomuddies its narrative waters by making the underwhelming nature of Ruby’s secret a key plot point, as the Doctor and Ruby exploit the allure of unmasking Ruby’s mother to lead Sutekh into a trap. Ruby may be a regular human, but she needed to pretend otherwise to save the universe.The Doctor could not have killed Sutekhif the villain hadn’t assumed Ruby’s mother was cosmically significant, drastically undermining the message that ordinary folks can be heroes.
Doctor Who Can’t Retcon Ruby’s Parentage Like Star Wars Did In The Rise Of Skywalker
Don’t Expect “Ruby Palpatine” In Doctor Who Season 15
The great irony, of course, is thatThe Last Jedi’s Rey reveal didn’t hold, as JJ Abrams returned forThe Rise of Skywalkerand retconned Rian Johnson’s story by revealing Rey as a Palpatine - a development even more controversial than making her “no one.“Doctor Whoseason 15will not have the option to do something similar, as “Empire of Death” fully introduces Ruby’s birth mother, shows the pair reuniting, and even teases Ruby’s father. That leavesDoctor Whono way to wind back and reveal Ruby is a timeless TARDIS creature from Trenzalore and Clara Oswald’s cousin’s roommate twice-removed after all.
If the backlashThe Rise of Skywalkerreceived is anything to go by,Doctor Whoisn’t missing out there. Regardless, theStar Warssequel trilogy’s finale further highlights whereDoctor Whowent wrong.The Last Jedi’s Rey twist, while still controversial, made sense. WhenThe Rise of Skywalkerlater changed direction, it needed to scramble over itself to explain - or, indeed, not explain - howRey was a Palpatine, asking audiences to take a huge leap of logic.
In the same way,Doctor Whoseason 14’s ending scrambled over itself to explain how Ruby Sunday was a normal human, glossing over the falling snow, the black cloak, and various other details that no longer sat quite right. Despite trying to emulateThe Last Jedi, therefore, the resolution toDoctor Who’s Ruby Sunday mystery perhaps had more in common withThe Rise of Skywalker’s doubly unpopular Rey Palpatine retcon.
Doctor Who
Doctor Who: Released on July 25, 2025, this series follows the Doctor and their companion as they journey across time and space, encountering a range of extraordinary friends and adversaries, expanding the universe of the long-running British science fiction series.
