The article contains spoilers for Doctor Who season 14, episode 8, “Empire of Death.”
Summary
- Russell T Davies was inspired by
Star Wars
to make Ruby Sunday’s mother an ordinary human with no godly ties. - Davies revealed that he liked the reveal of Rey’s parents being nobodies before the trilogy changed her origins to being related to Palpatine.
-
Doctor Who
cleverly led viewers to believe Ruby’s mother had supernatural origins before revealing her true identity.
Doctor Who showrunner Russell T. Davies reveals how Star Wars inspired the final reveal of Ruby Sunday’s (Millie Gibson) mother. In the season 14 finale, the sci-fi show finally confirms the true identity of Ruby’s birth mother. For the entire season, her mother was the central mystery who confounded the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and even the god Sutekh (Gabriel Woolf) by concealing her identity in ways that seemed almost supernatural. In the Doctor Who season 14 ending, it is revealed that her mother is Louise Miller (Faye McKeever) and that she’s just an ordinary human with no Time Lord or godly ties.
In Doctor Who: Video Commentaries for the final episode, Davies explained how the Star Wars sequel trilogy inspired Ruby’s mother reveal. Davies explained that he liked it when Star Wars initially claimed there was nothing special about Rey’s (Daisy Ridley) parentage and that she was just an ordinary human with special Force abilities. When the trilogy suddenly revealed she actually was the granddaughter of Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid), the showrunner realized he liked the other version better. Hence, Davies decided to make Louise an ordinary human who did the extraordinary. Check out his statement below:
This is kind of my reaction to – bear with me now – the Star Wars films. I can’t remember their titles, but in the last trilogy. In the last trilogy, the second film said that Daisy Ridley was nothing special, there was nothing special about her parentage. That she just got the Force. She was just ordinary. An ordinary person with the Force – and then the next one, they changed it all so that she was the child of the Emperor, and they made her…. She was, like, cosmic and had godlike powers – And I really loved the version where she wasn’t special. When she’s ordinary. So this is my reaction to that. She’s not the daughter of Sutekh. She’s not the daughter of the Time Lords or Rassilon or something like that. Her mum is Louise Miller, who was 15 years old and pregnant, from a dangerous home, abusive home, and left her child on the doorstep. And that’s my… That’s my reaction to it. Because I think it’s a better story.
Why Ruby Sunday’s Mom Reveal Works So Well In Doctor Who
Many Doctor Who Viewers Had Theories About Ruby’s Mother Being More Significant.
The lack of a DNA sample and the hiding of the face only ever confirmed that Louise didn’t want to be found.
It’s ultimately up to the viewers to decide whether Star Wars or Doctor Who handled the parentage reveal better. However, there is no denying that the latter’s reveal was actually quite clever. In season 14, viewers and the characters are led to believe that Louise must be a Time Lord or have some supernatural ties. After all, the Doctor Who character somehow escapes identification from Sutekh and manages to inexplicably obscure her face when the Doctor and Ruby revisit the night she gave Ruby away through a Time Window.
At the same time, Doctor Who did include subtle hints that she wasn’t what viewers thought she was. The Doctor conducted a scan of Ruby and found that she was, indeed, human. Her mother couldn’t have been a Time Lord without the Doctor’s scan picking up on that. Additionally, it was confirmed that the power of Ruby’s memory and not some superhuman abilities passed down from her mother caused strange occurrences like snow. The lack of a DNA sample and the hiding of the face only ever confirmed that Louise didn’t want to be found.
Related
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.
The most clever aspect of Doctor Who‘s reveal is that the viewers prove the phenomenon described in the show. The Doctor explains that Louise’s existence became powerful because so many people believed she was important, and this imbued her with significance. It’s interesting because viewers did the same thing as the characters. As seen in the numerous theories and discussions, viewers invested so much thought into her character because they believed she was important, even without substantial evidence. Ultimately, Doctor Who‘s parental reveal tackles a fascinating concept about belief’s role in who or what is important.
Source: Doctor Who: Video Commentaries/BBC iPlayer
Doctor Who
Originally premiered in 1963, Doctor Who is a sci-fi series that follows a powerful being known as a Time Lord, referred to as the Doctor. Using an interdimensional time-traveling ship known as the TARDIS, the Doctor travels time and space with various companions as they solve multiple problems and help avert catastrophe as much as they almost cause it. Though the Doctor is always the same character, they experience regenerations, allowing them to be recast every few seasons as a unique immortal being with new personality traits.
- Release Date
- November 23, 1963
- Seasons
- 14
- Franchise(s)
- Doctor Who
- Writers
- Mark Gatiss , Toby Whithouse , Neil Cross , Steven Moffat , Chris Chibnall
