The Time Lord known as the Doctor has a lot of enemies. But not all of the Doctor’s greatest foes are as obvious as the Daleks, the Master, the Zygons, or the Cybermen. In fact, one of the worst baddies in all of Doctor Who has been hiding in plain sight since the 9th Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) era in 2005. And now, with the upcoming 2024 Doctor Who Christmas Special coming from the pen of Steven Moffat, that very specific, yet obscure group of villains is back in action to to give the 15th Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) a very hard time.

In a new trailer just released for BBC’s Children in Need, Doctor Who has revealed the masterminds behind the final 2024 episode, “Joy to the World.” Mild spoilers ahead.

The return of Villengard

In the new trailer for “Joy to the World,” the Doctor notes that he’s once again faced with a creation from the Villengard Conflict Solutions. He calls Villengard the “biggest arms manufacturer in recorded history… old enemies of mine.” This time, Villengard has weaponized a “star seed,” which the Doctor is worried can obliterate all of history.

And, as the Doctor notes, this isn’t his first encounter with Villengard. The corporation was first mentioned in the Season 1 (2005) two-parter “The Empty Child” and “The Doctor Dances,” during which time we learned that Captain Jack’s sonic blaster was made by Villengard. In the 12th Doctor (Peter Capaldi) swan song, “Twice Upon a Time,” the TARDIS actually visited the planet Villengard, which in the distant future was also inhabited by the “good Dalek” known as “Rusty.”

More recently, Villengard was mentioned in the Season 1 (2024) 15th Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) episode “Boom” in which the corporation created AI “ambulances” which euthanized soldiers in endless wars partially controlled by an algorithm. The Doctor managed to curb Villengard’s AI brutality in “Boom,” but because Time Lord adventures don’t happen in a straight line, Villengard can always come back.

Steven Moffat’s greatest Who villain?

Although Steven Moffat is credited with creating the greatest modern Who monsters — the Weeping Angels — looking closely at his tenure, it’s clear the Villengard corporation is the most insidious force in the broader Who timeline. While manufacturing sonic blasters is one thing, orchestrating entire wars with an algorithm to stay in business is something else entirely.

Throughout the post-2005 seasons of Doctor Who, the future of the human race has been doled out in fragments. And although there are a few bright spots and mentions of various “Great and Bountiful” human empires, there’s also an overall dystopian sense of dread about humanity’s chances in the distant future. In one possible future, in the 13th Doctor’s (Jodie Whittaker) tenure Earth is called “Orphan 55,” a decimated planet overrun with mutants, and is basically uninhabitable because of unchecked climate change. In that episode, the Doctor implies that a horrible future for Earth isn’t set in stone, but the Villengard corporation in humanity’s future seems pretty inevitable.

While various aspects of the timeline have been reset or rebooted in Doctor Who, the prevalence of Villengard in humanity’s future has been, for the past seven incarnations of the Doctor, always there, and always lurking. Arguably, we know that Villengard goes away at some distant point in time, but as Steven Moffat prepares to drop what could be his last Who episode, ever, longtime fans have to wonder: Is this the end of Villengard vs. the Doctor, or just the beginning?