WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for the latest episode of Doctor Who, “Fugitive of the Judoon,” which premiered Sunday on BBC.
Doctor Who threw viewers a massive curve ball in this week's episode with the introduction of a new version of the Doctor. Already, Season 12's first five episodes have been filled with shocking twists and turns: the Master's latest regeneration returned as the ultimate villain, Gallifrey was destroyed (again), and the very existence of the Time Lords was put into question with the mystery of the Timeless Child. Now, we can add Ruth's mysterious new Doctor to this list. But "Fugitive of the Judoon" doesn't stop there.
The latest episode brought back a fan-favorite character: Captain Jack Harkness. However, Jack didn't return simply for the hell of it; he brought a dire warning about the future... and the fearsome Cybermen.
John Barrowman's character was last seen on Doctor Who in 2010, in David Tennant's farewell episode, "The End of Time, Pt. 2." But what is perhaps most interesting about this return, more than a decade later, is that he doesn't interact with the Doctor -- only her companions Graham, Yaz and Ryan. After first mistaking Graham for the Doctor, Jack finally learns the Doctor is a woman, and his jovial reaction is just perfect. Unfortunately, circumstances force Jack to leave in a hurry, before he can come face to face with the Thirteenth Doctor.
However, before he leaves, he delivers a dire warning about the future: "Tell the Doctor, the Lone Cyberman... don't give it what it wants. At all costs!"
The Cybermen are one of the classic foes of Doctor Who. The villainous robots returned in Season 10, and were last seen in "The Doctor Falls." However, since then the empire of the Cybermen has fallen, and they were all but destroyed.
Still, Jack's warning indicates there is still one Cyberman, "the Lone Cyberman," and the Doctor and her companions will evidently soon meet it. Jack is a time traveler like the Doctor, which means it's likely he has seen a version of the future in which the Lone Cyberman gets what it wants. And whatever that is, it seems to lead to terrible things.
Could the Lone Cyberman return its race to greatness? It certainly seems possible. The Doctor has more than enough on her hands, but there is another mystery she must now unravel.
Doctor Who stars Jodie Whittaker as the 13th iteration of the titular Time Lord. Whittaker is joined by co-stars Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole and Mandip Gill in a series spearheaded by showrunner Chris Chibnall. The next episode is set to air on the BBC on Feb. 2. The new season and all previous 11 seasons will stream on HBO Max later this year.