Some of the most underrated villains in Doctor Who are finally returning over 50 years since they made their first and only appearance in the longest-running sci-fi show on TV. Doctor Who is perhaps the most successful sci-fi franchise of all time, branching out far beyond the limits of television, and exploring adventures in comic books, movies, novels, and audio books. The latter has given unseen and neglected characters from the TV series the chance to jump into the action, and, in recent years, these stories have been produced by Big Finish.
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Big Finish’s latest Doctor Who audio book series focuses on Bernice Summerfield (Lisa Bowerman), an archaeologist from the 26th century who joined the Seventh Doctor in Doctor Who novels in the 1990s. Benny has recently been embarking on adventures of her own, including in the most recent The Dalek Eternity 2: The Winner’s Tale, written by Alex Hewitt, which released on October 23, 2025. Benny tries to stop the Daleks from conquering the cosmos, and she’s assisted by Starll the Sontaran (Dan Starkey) and Altazar the Draconian (Shai Matheson), marking the return of the Draconians long after their 1973 debut.
We Last Saw Draconians In 1973’s “Frontier in Space”
The third serial of Doctor Who season 10 saw the Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) and Jo Grant (Katy Manning) caught in the middle of escalating tensions between the citizens of Earth and the residents of the planet Draconia — the Draconians. The Draconians are humanoid reptilian beings who built a huge galactic empire over the millennia. While the Draconians and their possible war against humanity posed a significant threat, they were soon revealed to not actually be villains at all. The Draconians had been manipulated into a war by an even more terrifying villain, the Master (Roger Delgado).
The Master had been working with the Daleks to bring humanity to its knees, and inciting a war between humankind and the Draconians would have been a great way to accomplish this. “Frontier in Space,” released over six parts between February 24 and March 31, 1973, led directly into the next serial, “Planet of the Daleks,” and tragically marked Delgado’s final appearance in Doctor Who before his passing in June 1973. The Draconians had not been the primary antagonists of “Frontier in Space,” which means they return in The Dalek Eternity 2: The Winner’s Tale as allies to Bernice Summerfield.
Will We See the Draconians in the Live-Action Doctor Who Series Again?
After the finale of Doctor Who series 15 in May 2025, the future of the long-running sci-fi series hasn’t yet been officially confirmed, though crew have suggested it will return. This opens the door for the Draconians to return in Doctor Who’s future, especially since several classic villains have returned to the franchise in recent years. The Toymaker, Omega, the Rani, the Silurians and Sea Devils, the Master, the Sontarans, and more have recently rejoined Doctor Who, so it’s very possible the Draconians could soon return, too. Given their prominence and the size of their empire in the far future, it would be fantastic to see these villains-turned-allies come back after over half a century away.
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