Fan theory suggests the Dream Lord could be central to Doctor Who 60th

There’s a lot of speculation going on in the world of Doctor Who right now. And that’s fair enough as since Russell T Davies has returned to the BBC science fiction show as showrunner there have been a lot of movements in the TV series – from the introduction of Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson as the Fifteenth and Ruby Sunday, to the deal between BBC and Disney, talk of spin-offs and the constant speculation about what might happen in the 60th-anniversary specials in November 2023.

At the moment we know precious little about the 60th-anniversary specials apart from that David Tennant will be returning to the show to play what is being billed as the Fourteenth Doctor, he will be aided in his mission by Donna Noble (played by a returning Catherine Tate) and we will see Yasmin Finney in the show as the character Rose.

In addition to this we’ll be seeing an appearance from American actor Neil Patrick Harris in an as-yet confirmed role – but from the tiny snippet of footage we’ve seen of Doctor Who in 2023, he looks like he’s causing trouble!

Russell T Davies has said this about the specials:

“The path to Ncuti’s 15th Doctor is laden with mystery, horror, robots, puppets, danger and fun.

“And how is it connected to the return of the wonderful Donna Noble? How, what, why? We’re giving you a year to speculate, and then all hell lets loose.”

This message, the inclusion of “puppets”, plus the costume that Neil Patrick Harris is wearing in the footage we’ve seen has led many to conclude that Neil Patrick Harris is going to play a historic Doctor Who character The Celestial Toymaker, first featured in a 1966 First Doctor serial.

However, one redditor has another theory that has got Doctor Who fans talking online.

“I was on YT earlier and saw the suggestion of him being the dreamlord, and it got me thinking The theory I have come up with solves the questions in the trailer, I believe,” wrote HappyDodge2.

The theory asserts that: “David Tennant, as the 14th Doctor, is an illusion. Im not sure how exactly the methods behind it would be and motives, but one is real, and one is an illusion the doctor is experiencing. The 13th doctor actually regenerated into Ncuti Gatwa. But somehow the 13th doctor did something to trigger the dream lord, maybe it has something to do with the master taking her body for a while, who knows?”

It goes on to say that this could answer the question as to how Donna could be around the Doctor without dying in the Metacrisis and explains Tennat’s quote “I don’t know who I am anymore” and Gatwa’s short quote in the teaser too.

The theory continues that: “Russell has teased that the setting for Ncuti’s quote is misleading so who knows maybe he’s in exactly the same place as Tennant but keeps fainting and waking up as a new doctor with slightly or drastically different circumstances in the world. Also, I feel like the camera work of the NPH looks similar to that of the dreamlord in Amy’s Choice.”

Interesting? What do you think?