Doctor Who: So Who Exactly IS Ruby Sunday? We Have Some Theories (2024)

Posted in: BBC, Doctor Who, TV | Tagged: bbc, chris chibnall, disney, doctor who, Jenna Colman, Millie Gibson, russell t davies, steven moffat, Varada Sethu

Millie Gibson's Ruby Sunday is the new season-long Doctor Who mystery. Is she The Rani? Susan's daughter? We have some theories to share...

Now that Doctor Who is back with a new Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa), a new companion (Millie Gibson), and a new mystery: Who is Ruby Sunday? To recap: Ruby is a foundling left on Christmas Day on the doorstep of a church on Ruby Road. She wants to find her birth parents and find out who she really is and where she came from. That's her arc for the series. This being Doctor Who, the reveal is going to be big and cosmic – because it's not Coronation Street.

Doctor Who's New Impossible Girl

Yes, Russell T. Davies is doing his version of Steven Moffat's "Impossible Girl" with Ruby. Davies and Moffat are friends along with previous showrunner Chris Chibnall and their ideas influence each other's. Davies has taken the "Timeless Child" and the "Impossible Girl" threads and injected them with more theme and emotion to give them weight for his new run on the series. Ruby is not just a puzzle or plot device like Clara (Jenna Colman) was. She, like the Doctor, shares a bond as foundlings with loss at their core. They both have an emotional stake in Ruby's story. The Doctor might have been sworn to silence by the woman – who is either her mother or just someone tasked with leaving her at the church. That gives him a moral dilemma.

The Mystery and Menace of Ruby's True Nature

Every instance where The Doctor and Ruby think about that Christmas night, snow falls, even the TARDIS. Maestro (Jinkx Monsoon) tries to eat her but is scared off by a secret song and declares, "This creature is VERY wrong!" Ooooo! The Doctor surreptitiously scanned Ruby's DNA for answers, and he may or may not have found something. So, who – or what – is Ruby Sunday? Let the silly theories begin!

Ruby is The Real Big Bad

That might be a cliché. And cheap turnaround. It's common in comics that the "good guy turns out to be evil all along" trope. Not ruling it out, but it's kind of dumb to have a show's lovable lead heel-turn into a bad guy unless Davies has an emotional story to tell involving redemption.

Doctor Who: Is Ruby The Rani Reborn or The Rani's Daughter

Because fans of the classic shows just love to contort their brains for any reason to bring old villains back. Yes, The Doctor brought up The Rani in the season premiere. The problem with The Rani is she is a cipher. She was only any fun because she was played by the late, great Kate O'Mara, who happily vamped it up. She was just "female Master" and "evil female Timelord", and Steven Moffat already did that better with Michelle Gomez as Missy.

Ruby and Upcoming New Companion are a Bi-Generation

Yeah, someone brought this up. Upcoming new companion Varada Sethu is going to join the series by next season, but Millie Gibson isn't leaving after this season, as some tabloids click-baited some people into believing. So now we're into the idea that Ruby might be a Timelord in disguise. That two companions are a bi-generation of one person is at least one of the more creative theories. Because if there's one thing hardcore fans seem to always want, it's more Time Lords.

Personal Stakes for The Doctor: Ruby is Susan's Daughter?

Susan (originally played by Carole Ann Ford), the Doctor's granddaughter, has been missing since The Doctor left her behind with her new boyfriend in the 1960s. He promised one day, he would come back and see her. Yes, she showed up in the 1984 story "The Five Doctors," but she was snatched out of time and continuity and then put back. In "The Devil's Chord", The Doctor brought her up by name for the first time ever in the 21st Century revival of the series, wondering if she was alive or dead. Davies would not bring her up if he wasn't planning to bring her back and answer one of the series' last big mysteries: Whatever happened to Susan? This at least has some credibility and gives both The Doctor and Ruby real emotional stakes if they discover they're family after all – since family is what The Doctor has always been searching for.

Chances are, none of the above theories are right. Wild speculation is fun. The sillier, the better. The new era of television is character-based, so it's all about personal stuff for the characters, and that is Russell T. Davies' wheelhouse for Doctor Who. It's the gift that keeps on giving. Doctor Who is now streaming on Disney+.

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