Warning: Spoilers ahead forDoctor Whoseason 15, episode 3, “The Well.“Doctor Whoseason 15, episode 3,“The Well,” brings back the same monster from a 2008 David Tennant episode, but while the villain’s debut never allowed audiences to see its true form, the sequel finally shows everyone what it looks like. The entity fromDoctor Whoseason 4’s “Midnight” is largely portrayed as an invisible or formless being. However, its second appearance strays from its last encounter with the Doctor in several ways. One of the biggest differences is that, this time out, the viewers' imaginations aren’t leaned upon quite so heavily.
WhenDavid Tennant’s Tenth Doctormet the unnamed monster from “Midnight,” the closest anyone got to seeing what its physical form looked like was watching it speak through Lesley Sharp’s Sky Silvestry. Although Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor never gets a clear look at the creature, he at least gets a far better impression of what his ancient adversary looks like when it’s not hiding itself inside or behind another lifeform.Viewers aren’t treated to quite the same angle as Fifteen is, but it’s a better glimpse than anything that’s provided in “Midnight.”
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A few different characters think they see something behind Aliss Fenly (Rose Ayling-Ellis), but “The Well” largely restricts those moments to shadowy shapes that rapidly hide themselves again. That said,the episode includes a close-up of the entity around the 21:22 mark, as it leans around Aliss' head to inspect Belinda Chandra (Varada Sethu). It’s gone almost as soon as it appears, but it’s the clearest shot of the monster to date.
Evolving to survive on the surface of a barren world like Midnight, which has since been renamed Planet 6767, was always going to result in an unusual-looking alien, and “The Well” partially proves that.
Thankfully,“The Well” doesn’t solve the mystery entirely. The monster is still largely obscured by Aliss, and even the part of it that’s visible is difficult to make out with any real clarity. What’s obvious is that it isn’t a humanoid lifeform. It appears to be a dark mass, with its surface covered in distinct markings that could either be eyes or something else entirely. Evolving to survive on the surface of a barren world like Midnight, which has since been renamed Planet 6767, was always going to result in an unusual-looking alien, and “The Well” partially proves that.
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“Midnight” introduces the monster as something capable of inhabiting another lifeform, and it uses that body to interact with and learn from its surroundings. It also seems to take a twisted sense of joy from turning people against each other, and toys with them to the point of bringing ordinary people to the brink of murder.It doesn’t pose a direct physical threat when it encounters Ten, but Fifteen has a very different fight on his hands in “The Well.”
InDoctor Whoseason 15, episode 3, the “Midnight” monster still attaches itself to other beings, but this time stays directly behind them, and doesn’t take them over completely. If anyone steps behind it and its host, it kills them instantly.It had been hiding in the planet’s diamond mines for 400,000 years before “The Well"due to the drastic changes to Midnight’s surface. Its ultimate goal is to leave the world behind and wreak more havoc throughout theDoctor Whouniverse, which it achieves at the end of its second episode.
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Doctor Who
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An alien from the planet Gallifrey travels through time and space to explore, solve problems and fight injustice while also making friends with human beings. His spaceship, called TARDIS, resembles a police box, but it is much more than it appears to be.
Doctor Who: Released on July 26, 2025, this series follows the Doctor and their companion as they journey across time and space, encountering a range of extraordinary friends and adversaries, expanding the universe of the long-running British science fiction series.
