Doctor Who star Sacha Dhawan talks about playing the Master

Doctor Who gave fans a new spin on one the series’ oldest villains, the Master, in season 12. This character has been a part of the universe since the 1970s, and has changed appearances multiple times since then. We all remember Missy, right?

In season 12, we saw the Master return in the form of actor Sacha Dhawan. Granted, we haven’t seen much of him at all, and not nearly as much as I would like. But I like that we’re left wanting more, and it looks like we’ll get it the season finale, seeing as he popped out out of a portal to Gallifrey — the home planet of both the Master and the Doctor — in the penultimate episode.

In an interview with SYFY Wire, Dhawan reflected on playing this maddening character, starting with the big question: what’s going to happen with the Master in the season 12 finale? And why does he keep telling the Doctor that everything she knows is a lie and that Gallifrey betrayed them?

"I’m sworn to secrecy. I can say is that as you correctly mentioned, that statement is going to evolve into a lot of answers, finally. As with Doctor Who, answers also lead to more questions, but all I can say is that it is game-changing and you are going to see a different side to the Master that you’ve not seen before, and you’re going to see a different side to the Doctor as well. It’s chaotic and action-packed, but it’s also incredibly emotional as well. That’s what I’m really excited for those fans to see."

Might the Doctor go evil and the Master change for the better? That would be a shocking twist, wouldn’t it?

Speaking of which, the relationship between these two characters has always been a source of interest for Whovians.

"What’s so great about [lead actor Jodie Whittaker] is she just lets you do your thing. I was very keen on making the Master — yeah, he’s fun and chaotic, but I wanted to really explore making him quite dark and unpredictable, and she let me do that. She let me be unpredictable. So that’s why we didn’t really have too many conversations. I think she embraced the fact that she didn’t necessarily want to know what I was doing and save it till we called action. You’ll see some of those reactions are pretty genuine and real in the last episode."

Dhawan and Whittaker definitely do have an easy and surprising chemistry onscreen. At times, I was even shipping them, which is such a weird reaction given their history. But it’s also a testament to how well they work together as actors!

There’s something about the way Dhawan plays the Master that pulls you in and makes you want to like him, but then he does something horrible or cackles in an evil way, and you’re snapped back to reality. Dhawan is very interested in exploring those dimensions. “I was really keen on really focusing on the relationship with the Doctor and that relationship is really in essence why the Master behaves the way that he does,” he said. “Once I hooked onto that, yeah, it’s fun playing in the chaotic, but really the heart of the Master is someone who is tortured and is stooped in history and emotion, and that’s what I really wanted to bring to the surface. By doing that, I think the audience, as much as they hate him, will also sympathize with him and feel for him. I don’t think we’ve really seen that before.”

Maybe my favorite moment with the new Master came at the end of Episode 2, when he showed a vulnerability we hadn’t seen before. “One of the things I really liked about that Master, he almost puts on a front all the time and he buries himself in different personalities, almost different people,” Dhawan said. “You saw him as a Nazi, you saw him in the Victorian period, and then when you see him in the end of Episode 2 when he comes back as a hologram, you start to uncover someone who’s actually quite tortured and broken. And again, you start to understand why that is.”

"One of the conversations I had with [showrunner Chris Chibnall] early on is the idea of chaos theory and I never wanted to feel like the Master was just being chaotic for the sake of it. There was actually a very specific method in his madness and there was always a reason behind the chaos. Because I felt to myself, if I was in the Master’s shoes, by creating chaos it throws people off their guard a little bit and they get to make decisions that they never thought they were going to make.What I also loved about it is, in really crazy messed up ways, that the Master gets off on it as well. He’s already lost quite a lot, so he’s not afraid of putting himself on the front line and being absolutely fearless and almost relishing in the chaos, that in a way made him much more terrifying because, basically, he’s not afraid of dying."

I loved the reveal scene, by the way. Dhawan just embraced the chaos and madness of the Master so well and it made his coming out party riveting and exciting.

It’s safe to assume that Dhawan’s best performances as the Master are yet to come in the season 12 finale this Sunday. I’m so excited to learn more about what is going on, why he came out of the portal, and how it connects to Gallifrey.

Whatever happens at end of this season, there’s one thing Whovians should feel extremely happy about: Doctor Who isn’t going anywhere. According to Deadline, the head of BBC drama, Piers Wenger, is behind the show, despite a recent dip in ratings.

"It’s an incredibly important show for young audiences, it’s still watched by families in a world where there are fewer shows that have the power to do that. It will always be an important show for us and we’re a very long way from wanting to rest it."

If you want my honest opinion, the show has been the best it’s been since the David Tennant and Matt Smith days. The stories are incredible and inspiring, bringing on multiple companions has been fun and having our first female Doctor in the form of Jodie Whittaker has been absolutely phenomenal.

I’m glad the network has placed their trust into the show — it deserves it!

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h/t SYFY Wire