One of the stars of Doctor Who’s thirteenth season will be returning to play a new character in the next Doctor Who special as Craige Els, who played a humanoid dog creature named Karvanista in Doctor Who: Flux, has been confirmed to be returning to the franchise. The Jodie Whittaker era of Doctor Who is currently culminating with a trilogy of specials. These include the previously released “Eve of The Daleks,” the upcoming “Legend of The Sea Devils,” and a currently untitled third special that will celebrate the BBC’s centenary and see Whittaker's incarnation of The Doctor regenerate.
"Legend of the Sea Devils" will see The Thirteenth Doctor and her companions, Yaz and Dan, defending a coastal village in 19th century China from pirate queen Madame Ching and the terrifying Sea Devils. The Sea Devils are a popular race of monsters from the show's classic era, first introduced in a 1972 serial as allies of Roger Delgado’s Master and enemies of Jon Petwee’s Third Doctor. They are the ocean-dwelling cousins of the more well-known Silurians, a morally complex race of reptile people who ruled the Earth before mankind evolved.
Now, a recent issue of Doctor Who Magazine has revealed some exciting new information about the upcoming Doctor Who specials, including the news that Els will be returning. Els has been cast as a character named Marsissus. No other details about this character have been revealed, although it has been speculated that he will be playing the Sea Devil featured in the episode’s teaser.
Els will not be the first actor to play more than one character on Doctor Who. Dan Starkey has played various Sontarans and a Christmas elf on the show between 2008 and 2021, while Peter Capaldi played Roman sculptor Lobus Caecilius in the 2008 episode “The Fires of Pompei” before returning to the show as The Twelfth Doctor in 2013. Guardians of The Galaxy star Karen Gillan also appeared in “The Fires of Pompei” as a soothsayer before going on to play Eleventh Doctor companion Amy Pond. Very little is currently known about the upcoming special, but a conversation between Whittaker’s Doctor and a malevolent manifestation of the concept of time (also portrayed by Whittaker) in the final episode of the most recent series suggests that it may feature the return of the Sacha Dhawan incarnation of The Master, who was last seen in the divisive Season 12 finale “The Timeless Children.” The Sea Devils were originally introduced as allies of The Master, so it's certainly possible that The Doctor’s archnemesis will return alongside them.
The upcoming special is just one of many exciting things that Doctor Who aficionados currently have to look forward to. After Jodie Whittaker’s final episode, Russell T. Davies, who was responsible for the show’s reboot in 2005 and presided over one of its most popular eras, will be returning to helm the show during its sixtieth anniversary year alongside a currently unannounced Fourteenth Doctor. It has also been rumored that previous Doctors David Tennant and Matt Smith will be returning for the sixtieth-anniversary special. It certainly is an exciting time to be a Doctor Who fan.
Source: Doctor Who Magazine