The writer speaks to Doctor Who Magazine about ‘tweaking the legend’ to bring back the deadliest Time Lord of them all…
Amongst the challenges the Fifteenth Doctor faced in his final episode, The Reality War, was the return of yet another dangerous Time Lord – Omega, the “first Time Lord”, last seen in 1983’s Arc of Infinity. After spending some time trapped in the Underverse, Omega has ascended beyond his humanoid form, into a great godlike creature surrounded in myth – which not even the Rani was fully prepared to face!
Speaking to Doctor Who Magazine, showrunner and episode writer Russell T Davies discusses the legend of Omega, and how he reworked the character using the show’s pre-existing backstory…
Russell T Davies on bringing back Omega…
“At one point, I sat there thinking I’d invent a new Time Lord… I thought I would create a Time Lord nobody has ever heard of, who was banished. But then that simply just becomes a shorthand for Omega. I love the fact that, as fans, discuss this show and that it must be new, and must move forward. And within another ten words, we mention the Rani! You have to accept that it’s a 62-year-old show, and this is part of its vocabulary.
“I used the Time War to tweak the legend of Omega. A lot of things said about Omega were not said in the original series. You have to accept that 40 years have passed. The Time War came along and everyone’s history got changed. So that’s what Omega is now. You can reinvent it.
“Our way of walking through the world is constantly being re-analysed. So I like to think it’s the same on Gallifrey. That’s happened, over the eons, Omega has been recontextualised, and the story gets bolder and changes over time. We don’t want to repeat the past, we want to push it forward…”
