Doctor Who Teases Susan Twist's REAL Character With Episode 4's Hiker Cameo

Warning: Spoilers ahead for Doctor Who season 14, episode 4, "73 Yards."

Summary Susan Twist's mysterious characters in Doctor Who may be leading up to a big reveal, possibly as the Toymaker.

Twist's interaction with Ruby in "73 Yards" hints at her true identity as the game-playing character.

The Toymaker's immense abilities and competitive nature make his potential return impactful for the Doctor.

In what is her sixth Doctor Who appearance, Susan Twist's mysterious cameos may finally have been contextualized in "73 Yards." While the clue in question doesn't offer an ironclad explanation for the actress' omnipresence among the Doctor Who season 14 cast, her newest character delivers a line that teases her true identity. She has now appeared in almost every episode of Doctor Who's Disney era, and Russell T Davies may be approaching her big reveal.

Making her debut as Mrs. Merridrew in the Issac Newton sequence at the beginning of "Wild Blue Yonder," Susan Twist's revolving door of characters has become one of Doctor Who season 14's most subtle enigmas. Twist's characters have given very little away pertaining to the reason for the actress' personas permeating the Doctor Who universe, but her extended interaction with Ruby Sunday in "73 Yards" gives viewers a potentially encoded insight into the actress' true role.

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Doctor Who Season 14, Episode 4 Hints Susan Twist Is The Toymaker

Twist's conversation with Ruby could hold the key

Ruby's encounter with Susan Twist's hiker character in Doctor Who season 14, episode 4, "73 Yards," provides Twist with the most dialogue she's had in the show so far. Not knowing quite what's happening herself, Ruby attempts to communicate the fact she's being followed by the mysterious woman. As a result, the hiker becomes concerned about, "Whatever little game this is." Referring to the scenario as a game is quite a loaded reference, especially given the recent departure of Neil Patrick Harris' departure at the end of the Doctor Who 60th-anniversary specials. So, Twist could be playing the Toymaker.

Susan Twist's Doctor Who Characters Leading Up To "73 Yards" Character Episode Mrs. Merridrew Wild Blue Yonder Unnamed audience member The Church on Ruby Road Gina Scalzi Space Babies Tea lady The Devil's Chord Ambulance Boom Hiker 73 Yards

The Toymaker often sets the terms of his own games, so while it's unclear what game the character may be playing, it could be some kind of cosmic hide-and-seek - with the hiding places being as close to the Doctor as possible. If Twist is playing the Toymaker, she would be the third person to embody the character, with Michael Gough originating the role in 1966 before Neil Patrick Harris took over in 2023's "The Giggle."

The Toymaker's Powers Would Explain How Susan Twist Is Playing Multiple Doctor Who Characters

Neil Patrick Harris demonstrated the character's abilities in "The Giggle"

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The Toymaker has already been established to have the ability to physically transform, as proven by his recasting from Gough to Harris. A change in actor in the Doctor Who canon rarely comes without an in-universe explanation. Twist being cast as the Toymaker aligns with this tradition. While the character is traditionally played by a male actor, Doctor Who has a trend of breaking through this boundary and has cast male and female actors as major characters, such as the Master and the Doctor. The Toymaker can play with the fabric of reality, so changing his appearance would be easy.

The Toymaker's immense abilities are essentially without end, as long as what he's doing falls within the rules of one of his games.

Susan Twist's Doctor Who characters haven't all appeared on Earth, with her "Space Babies" persona working on a space station, as well as the Ambulance AI she voiced being stationed on the alien planet of Kastarion 3 in "Boom." They've also been spread throughout the timeline, without being restricted to a specific period. The Toymaker's immense abilities are essentially without end, as long as what he's doing falls within the rules of one of his games. So, traversing all of time and space to follow the Doctor is well within his skill set.

The Toymaker Has An Obvious Reason For Following The Doctor & Ruby

The bi-generated Doctors put the Toymaker in a losing position

The Toymaker is many things, but he has one personality trait that tends to prevail above all else - he's very competitive. When Neil Patrick Harris' Toymaker encountered David Tennant's Fourteenth Doctor in "The Giggle," one of the villain's main motivations was to seek a rematch. Gough's Toymaker lost to William Hartnell's First Doctor in 1966, so the Doctor's two victories over Harris' Toymaker in "The Giggle" put the Time Lord in the lead.

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Although the Doctor traps the Toymaker at the end of "The Giggle," the antagonist's raw power may have been too much to contain. If Twist is playing the Toymaker, her goal for tracking down Gatwa's Doctor would likely be to challenge him to another game. The Toymaker is immortal and likely gets bored by the infinity of his existence. Now that the Toymaker is in a losing position against the Doctor once again, the villain will be driven by his drive for redemption.

Doctor Who Season 14, Episode 4 Proves One Susan Twist Theory Wrong

Old Ruby is played by Amanda Walker in "73 Yards"

There have been several theories swirling among Doctor Who fans about Susan Twist's actual character, and while many of them remain possible, "73 Yards" debunks one of them with airtight logic. One of the theories suggested that Susan Twist was playing an older Ruby Sunday, somehow scattered through time similar to the different versions of Jenna Coleman's Clara Oswald. However, Ruby Sunday is shown as an old woman in "73 Yards," and she is played by Amanda Walker - not Susan Twist.

If Ruby is a Time Lord or a member of the Doctor's true species, then she could have the ability to regenerate.

However, this hypothesis hinges on Ruby Sunday being human, which may not be the case. If Ruby is a Time Lord or a member of the Doctor's true species, then she could have the ability to regenerate. In the timeline shown in "73 Yards," Ruby Sunday doesn't regenerate, so it would make sense why her older counterpart wouldn't look like Susan Twist. Instead, Ruby may now regenerate within the future of the show's main timeline, which would make it illogical for Amanda Walker to play an older version of the character.

Is It Too Early To Bring Back Doctor Who's Toymaker?

Doctor Who should wait longer before the Toymaker's comeback

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Relatively speaking, the Toymaker has only just been ejected from the show, so it's debatable whether bringing the character back so soon would reduce the impact of his defeat at the hands of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Doctors. Gatwa's Doctor admits to Ruby in Doctor Who season 14, episode 2, "The Devil's Chord," that he barely managed to defeat the Toymaker in "The Giggle," and was only able to do so because he bi-generated. The same scene confirms bi-generation isn't something the Doctor can survive again, so it's unclear how the Doctor would defeat the Toymaker a fourth time.

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The return of the Toymaker would arguably also need to address the ongoing presence of David Tennant's Fourteenth Doctor, as it wouldn't make sense for Fourteen to sit idly by as Fifteen fought for his life. While this is something the show could revisit further down the line, Gatwa's era of leading the show has only just begun, and another David Tennant comeback would be too distracting. So, if Susan Twist is indeed playing a new version of the Toymaker, Doctor Who should keep it under wraps for a while longer.

Episode Disney+ Release Date "Space Babies" & "The Devil's Chord" May 10 "Boom" May 17 "73 Yards" May 24 "Dot & Bubble" May 31 "Rogue" June 7 "The Legend of Ruby Sunday" June 14 "Empire of Death" June 21