Who is The Meep’s Boss in ‘Doctor Who?’ The mystery villain, explained

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Doctor Who: “The Star Beast.”

Doctor Who‘s triumphant return in the first of its three 60th anniversary-celebrating specials was a lot for old-school fans to handle, as it wrapped up loose threads dating back 15 years.

On top of the return of David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor and the threat of Donna Noble’s death finally resolved, “The Star Beast” was mostly a closed book, although this being Doctor Who, naturally it ended on a big cliffhanger leading into special 2. But the episode’s ending also included a cryptic line that sets up a new story arc for the show. One that may play out across a longer time frame than we’re expecting.

Before the evil yet adorable The Meep (don’t forget the definite article, it’s The Meep’s chosen pronoun) was arrested by the Wrarth Warriors and beamed away from Earth, the criminal creature told the Time Lord: “Oh, I will escape, and have my revenge. So you beware Doctor, cause there’s one more thing. A creature with two hearts is such a rare thing, just wait till I tell the boss.”

The Boss, huh? It looks like we’ve found the series’ new big bad, who no doubt will be the mastermind behind other upcoming alien threats. But who could “The Boss” be? Let’s take a gander through three potential options.

The Toymaker

Right off the bat, many folks are assuming this mystery will wrap up almost immediately. We know that the third anniversary special, “The Giggle,” features Neil Patrick Harris as The Toymaker, a vastly powerful villain who first featured in the Whoniverse way back in 1966 (when he looked like Batman’s butler instead of Barney Stinson). However, some curious comments made by David Tennant suggest this won’t be the case.

In the video commentary for “The Star Beast” (which can be viewed on BBC iPlayer in the U.K.), the actor admitted that the identity of The Meep’s boss is “still cryptic to me,” so assuming he’s telling the truth, then the answer is not provided in any of these specials. In other words, The Boss will go on to become the big bad of season 14, starring Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor, airing spring 2024.

The Rani

OK, then, so perhaps we looking for another major returning foe who could be outed as Meep’s boss in season 14. Well, whenever there’s a villain pulling strings from the shadows in Doctor Who the mind immediately wanders to the Master, the Doctor’s age-old enemy and fellow Time Lord. The Meep’s reference to “a creature of two hearts” being rare could well be an indicate that this is what the Doctor, the Meep, and The Boss all have in common — Time Lords and Meeps are the only species in Whoniverse lore to possess a binary vascular system.

However, given that the Master was such a continual presence in both Peter Capaldi and Jodie Whittaker’s eras, new/old showrunner Russell T. Davies would surely want to change it up a little bit. So why not The Rani, the female Time Lord villain not seen since 1987? Davies himself heavily teased her return back in 2007’s “Last of the Time Lords,” but he never followed through on it. Now he’s got a second go at calling the shots, bringing The Rani back could be at the top of his to-do list.

BOSS

But, you know what, maybe we’re thinking too hard about this. What if it isn’t cryptic at all and the answer to The Boss’ identity is staring us in the face. What if the Boss is… BOSS?

For context, BOSS (standing for Biomorphic Organizational Systems Supervisor) was a mad computer that served as the villain of 1974 story “The Green Death.” In charge of Global Chemicals, a leading oil-refining company, its faulty programming made it believe that what was good for the company was good for the world so it flooded the English countryside with pollutants. “The Green Death” remains one of the most acclaimed entries of ’70s Who due to its ever-timely dual themes of environmentalism and AI.

In fact, you could argue these themes are more pertinent than ever now so it’s easy to imagine Davies wanting to resurrect BOSS to tackle those concepts in a modern way in season 14.

Or, I don’t know, maybe The Boss is the Kandy Man or something.