“It’s A Better Story”: How Ruby Sunday’s Doctor Who Season 14 Reveal Came From Star Wars Explained By Showrunner
Summary
Russell T Davies addresses the final fate of Sutekh followingDoctor Who’s season 14 finale. Having made his debut during Tom Baker’s tenure as the Fourth Doctor, Sutekh stood the test of time as one of the Doctor’s most notable one-off villains due to his terrifying power and Gabriel Woolf’s performance. InDoctor Whoseason 14’s two-part finale, it was revealed that Sutekh had been playing a long game to exact vengeance on the Time Lord.
With season 14’s finale seeing Sutekh cast into the Time Vortex once more, Davies revealed during theDoctor Who: Video Commentariesfor “Empire of Death” whether he could make a return. The showrunner firmly stated thatSutekh was killed by his latest banishment,highlighting how they visualized his death to star Bonnie Langford to ensure a definitive end to the villain. Check out Davies' explanation below:
“And he finally, finally dies. It’s a great death shot. Watch this now, Bonnie, because as I said, he’s got to absolutely die this time. Never coming back. Gone.”
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However, with Sutekh’s Harbinger (Genesis Lynea) hinting at other gods, it is clear the Time Lord is not done yet with these all-powerful foes.
While Sutekh’s TARDIS hijacking may have come as a surprise, his method of survival isn’t unprecedented withinDoctor Who’s history. While he was unable to die due to the immortality granted by the Bad Wolf, Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) still managed to cling to the vessel’s exterior from 2008 Cardiff to the dying days of the universe in season 3 of the revival, even with a mostly mortal body. As such, it isn’t hard to imagine an already powerful Osiran like Sutekh could have survived, especially ashis body evolved and acclimated to the environment.
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Despite this, however, he had remained attached to the TARDIS, never making a move or leaving the vessel until the question of Ruby’s (Millie Gibson) parentage proved too impossible for Sutekh to understand with his over-inflated ego in his newly ascended status. On the verge of answers, he was able to be tricked by Ruby and the Fifteenth Doctor, and the vessel swept out of his grasp. Now unable to cling to the vessel without protection or a departure point,Sutekh is torn apart by the unpredictable time winds, ending theDoctor Whovillain’s reign.
Sutekh’s fate stands out when compared to how the Time Lord has handledother gods of the Pantheon in Davies' newDoctor Whoera, with both the Toymaker (Neil Patrick Harris) and Maestro (Jinkx Monsoon) being imprisoned once more and kept bound. Instead, Sutekh proves to be too great of a foe to the Doctor, forcing him to take drastic actions to ensure the God of Death can not claim another, putting aside his personal codes. However, with Sutekh’s Harbinger (Genesis Lynea) hinting at other gods, it is clear the Time Lord is not done yet with these all-powerful foes.
Doctor Whoseason 14 is available on Disney+ and BBC iPlayer and will return with a new seasonal special in December.
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Doctor Who: Released on August 15, 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.
