The Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Special just dropped its official trailer and apart from the highly anticipated return of the Tenth Doctor (Fourteenth Doctor) and Donna Noble, we’ve also caught a glimpse of Neil Patrick Harris’ role in the series. Now the question is, who is he playing in the Doctor Who special?
Neil Patrick Harris Poofed Into the Doctor Who Universe
Neil Patrick Harris, who is most prominently known for playing Barney Stinson in How I Met Your Mother, is now a part of the Doctor Who Universe.
Known for his talent in magic tricks (both as Barney and as part of his life), his ‘Celestial Toymaker’ character is one for the books, considering the performative stance his appearances have teased so far in the trailer.
We see him watching Donna from a distance in a magician’s clothing with a matching top hat and cane. Thus far, his character’s been a mystery villain always wearing flashy colors with an ambiguous goal in mind.
At one point, the Doctor and Donna even enter a shop, only to see Neil’s Toymaker standing in a vested suit, surrounded by toys, which seemingly confirms the villain is the Celestial Toymaker.
Previously speaking on Variety’s podcast Just for Variety with Marc Malkin, Neil shared how he couldn’t refuse showrunner Russell T Davies’ offer to have him join the Doctor Who show:
“I get a text from Russell T Davies saying, ‘So I’m doing this thing and I’ve written a thing and there’s a part in it that you might like. I think it’s delicious.’ And he sent it and I started reading it and from the very, very first scene I was like, ‘Ah, this is delicious.’ It’s a great fun part in ways that I’m not allowed to discuss right now but I had to say yes. It would be a bad call to say no creatively to him.”
There’s a chance his powers would be quite disastrous to deal with, especially since the trailer implied he could change his size and control anyone as the puppeteer he had shown himself to be.
Now then, let’s dig deeper into who exactly the Doctor and Donna will be dealing with in the three-episode long anniversary special.
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Who is the ‘Celestial Toymaker’ in Doctor Who?
Doctor Who fans who have yet to watch the original series before the 2005 relaunch may not know, but the Celestial Toymaker has already made his appearance even before Neil’s in the 60th Anniversary Special.
As it so happens, the toymaker only showed up in the 1966 episode where he was shown to be ruthless in encapturing human beings to force them to play his games simply for his own entertainment.
Originally played by Michael Gough, the stakes of his games are usually the players gaining their freedom back, which could explain why Donna Noble’s life is in danger yet again.
The catch here is that, no matter how good his players get to be in his game, the Toymaker, above all, hates losing, which would favor him given that he could manipulate the results to push through in his favor.
The Toymaker is known to trap his victims inside his Celestial Toyroom, a pocket universe he created in which he could only exist. He seemingly cannot (or will not) leave the pocket universe for some reason.
Another catch is that when his players lose to his games, the victims automatically become his playthings. However, as for the few who could outsmart him, beating the Toymaker would lead to the destruction of the Toyroom.
It remains to be seen what plan the Toymaker has in store for the Doctor and Donna, but given his character's history, his entry into the modern world will likely play a huge part in his return to the series.
For now, you can check out the official trailer for Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Special below:
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