The Toymaker Returns? Doctor Who's Rumored 60th Anniversary Villain Origin & Powers Explained

NPH is rumored to be playing a beloved one-shot Doctor Who villain, but who is the Toymaker, and what does their return mean for the future?

Neil Patrick Harris is heavily rumored to be playing classic Doctor Who villain, the Celestial Toymaker, opposite David Tennant's Fourteenth Doctor in 2023's 60th anniversary specials. The Toymaker has only appeared once in the history of Doctor Who, but he left a lasting impression on fans. 1980s executive producer John Nathan-Turner's desire to bring back the Toymaker for season 23 was foiled by the show's brief cancelation in 1985. Most recently, the Toymaker was name-checked in Doctor Who season 12, episode 7, "Can You Hear Me?" by the villainous Eternal, Zellin (Ian Gelder).

Various Doctor Who novels, comic books and audio dramas have brought back the Toymaker, but they're yet to return to the series proper. "The Giggle", one of the revealed titles for Doctor Who's 60th anniversary specials does suggest a sense of fun, and the Doctor's warning that an unnamed villain is "laughing at the human race" suggests the ethereal trickster has returned to toy with humanity. If Neil Patrick Harris is resurrecting the Celestial Toymaker, then here's everything that viewers need to know about the ethereal funmaker.

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Location filming and the teaser trailers released by the BBC heavily suggest that Neil Patrick Harris' Doctor Who villain is the Toymaker. There were apparently leaflets advertising a circus present at the location shoot for one of the specials, suggesting links to the Toymaker's predilection for clowns. In the Christmas Day teaser trailer, a mystery figure was seen hurrying into a toy store, further emphasizing the connections to the classic Doctor Who alien. Meanwhile, the first photo of NPH's character had him wearing spectacles and a vintage smock, invoking the look of an antique toy maker.

The most recent Doctor Who trailer revealed some unnerving looking ventriloquist dummies which further invokes old-school toys. However, in each of these trailers, Neil Patrick Harris appears to be more of a traveling entertainer than the original Toymaker, who delighted in logic puzzles and playground games. That said, RTD's revised Toymaker could see all reality as a game, delighting in manipulating it for his own entertainment. This would be a significant step up from the more parochial portrayal of the cosmic trickster in his original Doctor Who appearance.

Interestingly, the novelization of "The Celestial Toymaker" implied that there was a whole world of Toymakers intent on creating increasingly destructive toys. It was on this planet that the Celestial Toymaker was said to originate. In the original TV serial, it was revealed that the Toymaker had created his own realm - the Celestial Toyroom - in which he ensnared unlucky travelers and forced them to compete in a series of childish games. If the Toymaker's captives won the game, they won their freedom. However, if they lost or cheated the result, they would be doomed to remain inside the Toyroom as participants in the games.

The Toymaker's ability to draw the First Doctor's TARDIS into his realm suggests that he has the ability to spread his influence across all time and space. It's been suggested that the players drawn into the Toyroom were plucked from various points in history. Presumably this works both ways, and the Toymaker can transport himself to any time and place, explaining why he's on Earth in Doctor Who's 60th anniversary specials. It's also possible that the Earth that the Fourteenth Doctor visits isn't real and is actually an elaborate extension of the Celestial Toyroom. This could be backed up by director Tom Kingsley's tease that the second Doctor Who special, "Wild Blue Yonder" is "quite weird".

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William Hartnell faced off against Michael Gough's Toymaker toward the end of the First Doctor era, when he and his companions were trapped in the Celestial Toyroom. The Toymaker intended to trap the Doctor for all eternity because the Doctor's superior intellect made him the perfect opponent. The Doctor was challenged to the fiendish Trilogic game - a variation on the pyramid puzzle - where one wrong move would imprison him forever. However, the Doctor could never hope to win as the Toymaker had agreed to the destruction of his realm should he be beaten.

This meant that, if the Doctor played the winning move then he, and his companions Steven and Dodo would also be destroyed. After failing to bargain with the Toymaker, the Doctor came up with an incredibly simple solution to the conundrum. From the safety of the TARDIS, the Doctor mimicked the Toymaker's voice to instruct the game to make the winning move, destroying the Celestial Toyroom. The Doctor observed that this would only be temporary as the immortal Toymaker had the power to create a new reality for himself.

Originally, the Toymaker's powers were also intended to include the ability to change the Doctor's appearance, which would have ruined Doctor Who's first regeneration. The plan was abandoned, however, as a dyed-in-the-wool Doctor Who fan, Russell T Davies may have remembered this tidbit about the Toymaker's abilities. If so, then an intervention by NPH's Toymaker provides a fascinating explanation for why the Fourteenth Doctor is now wearing the face of his Tenth incarnation.

Doctor Who very rarely deals with omnipotent gods and cosmic tricksters, and generally pits the Doctor against evil aliens or renegade Time Lords. If the Toymaker is truly back in Doctor Who then it changes the game when it comes to the foes that Ncuti Gatwa's Fifteenth Doctor will face. Now that Gallifrey is destroyed forever, and the Master is dead after failing to steal the Doctor's lives, Doctor Who is in need of brand-new cosmic villains.

The Toymaker is the perfect Master alternative for Doctor Who because in many ways, "The Celestial Toymaker" predicted the Doctor and Master dynamic. Like the Master, the Toymaker sees the Doctor as their intellectual equal and delights in putting them through their paces. In Doctor Who season 10, the Twelfth Doctor (Peter Capaldi) and Missy (Michelle Gomez) spent a considerable amount of time together in the vault, playing games and discussing morality. This is ultimately what the Toymaker wanted from the First Doctor, a partnership of equals, who would play games against each other for all eternity.

The Master was a Time Lord, but the Toymaker's powers over the very fabric of reality make him an even more powerful foe. An arch nemesis with the ability to change reality as the Doctor knows it could push the show into uncharted territory. More than that, the Toymaker's treatment of everything as his own personal plaything makes them quite an unpredictable and dangerous villain. A villain purely driven by their own selfish need to be entertained could endanger everything that the Doctor holds dear. The possibilities created by the return of the Toymaker mean it would be a major game-changer as Doctor Who enters its sixth decade.