Location Photo Reveals Return of Classic Monster in Series 13 of 'Doctor Who'

- Warning: This article includes spoilers -

Doctor Who has been treating us big time this year. On New Year’s Day, Jodie Whittaker returned as the Thirteenth Doctor in an extended series 12 opener, which saw the return of the Master, played by Sacha Dhawan. As the series continued, old faces – including the Judoon – made an appearance.

John Barrowman also returned as Captain Jack Harkness to give the fam a warning about the Lone Cyberman. It has also been confirmed that Barrowman will be returning later on this year in the upcoming festive special “Revolution of the Daleks”, with the air date yet to be revealed.

With Whittaker staying on for Series 13, filming is now underway and already, location photos are surfacing online as filming around Cardiff begins. One Twitter posted a photo, which confirms that a classic monster will be making a scary return next year.

In a tweet by @acecreeptwo, a photo reveals the Sontarans are returning in their Classic Who armour ready to terrorise Earth once more. This photo comes just as Chris Chibnall – current showrunner – revealed a “monster will be returning”. He said:

“More monsters are coming back. There are ones who’ve appeared over the past 15 years that are deserving of another visit in the next series. In fact, they’re probably formulating their plans as we speak…”

With this in mind, it’s now pretty clear who Chibnall was referring to. But when was the last time we last saw the Sontarans in action?

The Sontarans are a race of belligerent and militaristic clones from the planet Sontar, created by Kaveetch. We first met the potato looking aliens in the Classic Who story “The Time Warrior” with Jon Pertwee as the Doctor, who had just taken on Sarah Jane Smith [Elisabeth Sladen] as his next companion.

The Sontarans then continued to keep making appearances over time where he faced not just Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor, but also Tennant’s Tenth Doctor. In 2008, we met the Sontarans for the first time in the show’s revival, where the Doctor and Donna Noble [Catherine Tate] were reunited with Martha Jones [Freema Agyeman] in a nail-biting two-part story. Since then, the Sontarans have not had a full story.

Steven Moffat brought us Strax, who was a friend of the Doctor’s during Moffat’s tenure as showrunner. Strax formed part of the Paternoster Gang, who went on to appearing in several of the Eleventh and Twelfth Doctor’s episodes. The Sontarans have made several cameos over time, but the creatures became a popular enemy in the show’s spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures, where they faced Sarah Jane on a number of occasions in an attempt to take over the world.

With the BBC yet to officially confirm if this in fact the Sontarans, the armour makes it pretty clear we are in for a treat when we meet them again in the upcoming series. Their story plot remains a secret, but fingers crossed they’re part of another ground breaking two-part story.

We know that Whittaker will be back as the Doctor, but it is unclear who she will be joined by for her next series, which will be shortened to eight episodes due to the coronavirus pandemic. It is reported that current companions, Bradley Walsh and Tosin Cole will be stepping down as their characters Graham and Ryan, but this is yet to be confirmed.

With the Sontarans on their way back, it shouldn’t be too long until we see them in action. A shortened series gives fans hope that the next series will air in autumn 2021, running up to Christmas.

For now, fans sit patiently as the next festive special rapidly approaches, where the Doctor comes face-to-face with newly designed Daleks. The air date is still a secret, but fans are hoping the Christmas special is back this year.