A fresh new season of Doctor Who is on its way, with once-and-future showrunner Russel T. Davies on the narrative warpath.

Recommended Videos

In a mid-credits reveal following the show’s 2023 Christmas special, viewers got a look at what might just be the good Doctor’s next big mystery: The seemingly innocuous Mrs. Flood, presented through the rest of the story as an unassuming elderly woman, turns to the camera. Looking straight down the barrel of the audience’s soul, she says in a self-satisfied voice, “Never seen a TARDIS before?” It’s tantalizing. What could it mean?

Who could Mrs. Flood be?

So far, Davies and company have been conspicuously tight-lipped about who Mrs. Flood might be, with Davies promising that “you will eventually find out more about her. She’s a slow burn, Mrs Flood. Who is Mrs Flood? Come back and find out!” during an episode of Doctor Who: Unleashed. 

In short, the way things stand right now, you’re not supposed to know who Mrs. Flood is. Her identity is a mystery box, like River Song or the woman in heaven during the show’s eighth season. Maybe that’s why fans seem so sure that she’s River Song, or the woman in heaven from the show’s eighth season. 

Yes, Doctor Who devotees around the internet are doing what they do, speculating wildly on just who Mrs. Flood might be. As we mentioned, two of the top contenders are the Doctor’s wife – whose history of very damp names makes her an obvious choice – and The Master, whose return was alluded to at the end of the Fifteenth Doctor’s introduction in the special “The Giggle.” Eagle-eyed viewers noted that Mrs. Flood’s door looked suspiciously TARDIS-ish, and that her ability to break the fourth wall was a particularly Time Lord-adjacent move. 

Meanwhile, further theories postulated that Mrs. Flood might be the Rani, another Time Lord villain with unscrupulous scientific methods and, for a while at least, a T-Rex. Speculation surrounding the character’s potential return mostly revolve around the fact that “Rani” is an anagram of “Rain,” which creates Floods. Maybe that’s a stretch, but so is an alien time machine like the TARDIS having a name that’s an acronym in English.

Whether Mrs. Flood is a Time Lord, a different Time Lord, a part-Time Lord, or just an old lady who can see you through your television screen, we won’t have long to wait to find out. Doctor Who’s newest season is slated to debut in May of 2024.