Doctor Who has been through several iterations of the titular Time Lord since it began in 1963, but while most audiences would understandably consider William Hartnell’s original version to be the “First Doctor,” this technically isn’t true. Throughout the show’s extensive history, there have been plenty of different writers and showrunners in charge of the project, and each one has made dramatic changes to the canon that make it somewhat difficult to understand exactly where every single version of the Doctor sits on a timeline.

Thankfully, Doctor Who is a show with an immense fanbase and a very active community that helps answer all of these questions. However, there are some questions in the show that even the most vocal audiences don’t know the answer to - the Doctor’s true name, for one. And the confusing history of regeneration in Doctor Who has raised several questions, but the most fascinating one is regarding the Doctor’s incarnations before the narrative of the show begins. Where audiences had previously been trapped by the question, it seems to have been answered in an old Doctor Who magazine.

“The Brain Of Morbius” Confirms There Were Doctors Before Hartnell

There Were Actually Several Doctors Before Him

“The Brain of Morbius” is frequently cited among the best classic episodes of Doctor Who, but the serial includes one fascinating detail that’s long left audiences confused. During one psychedelic moment, the show includes multiple unknown faces that are implied to be previous versions of the Doctor.

One excerpt from an old Doctor Who magazine confirms that, at least originally, these faces were intended to be previous faces of the Doctor.

This has been a speculative point within the Doctor Who fan base for a long time, with most agreeing that these versions couldn’t exist because Time Lords are only given 12 regenerations (ignoring “The Time of the Doctor”). However, one excerpt from an old Doctor Who magazine confirms that, at least originally, these faces were intended to be previous faces of the Doctor.

The pictures belonged to other of the Doctor Who production team, who volunteered their faces to represent previous versions of the show’s protagonist. (Source: X) Although the debate surrounding this issue has settled since Chibnall officially wrote pre-Hartnell Doctors into the show with “The Timeless Child,” this essentially confirms that it was always the show’s intention to introduce some previous incarnations.

Will The Morbius Doctors Ever Appear Again?

Anything Is Possible In Doctor Who

Since these versions of the Doctor were played by the show’s production team in the 1970s, they almost certainly won’t appear in the show any time soon. However, that doesn’t mean that Doctor Who won’t at least mention them, or provide audiences with some more pre-Hartnell Doctors. It’s something that Chris Chibnall clearly wanted to include, with his Fugitive Doctor and The Division subplot, but it wasn’t something that Russell T. Davies has ever shown any interest in.