Charles Dance "Confirmed" As New Master But Then Again It Is The Internet

This certainly isn't new to the Doctor Who Rumor Mill but it is an idea that I support a couple hundred percent. It seems that there are murmurs regarding a return of perennial arch-nemesis The Master in the upcoming series of Doctor Who & while there are, as one would expect, a number of names & faces being tossed into the mix of possible actors to take up the helm of what is essentially The Doctor's Evil Twin (not to disregard The Valeyard, who may actually fit that designation a little better), the one that stands out the most is Charles Dance. While most recently recognized as Tywin Lannister from HBO's Game of Thrones, Dance has a impressive acting resume under his belt, which includes the villainous Benedict from the 1993 Arnold Schwarzenegger action/comedy/belly-flop Last Action Hero (something I only mention because its the first time I personally remember seeing him in any role).

The following picture made the rounds in late January, seeming to "accidentally confirm" Dance in the role...

The picture depicts an alleged tweet mistakenly tweeted then quickly deleted (say that 10 times fast) by the Doctor Who Official twitter account which contained the file names of four promo pictures, two of which were "S8PromoMaster1Simm.jpg" & "S8PromoMasterDanceRegen.jpg". The first of these references John Simm, who played The Master from 2007 to 2010, while the second suggests its a picture of Simm regenerating into Dance. It makes sense that, should The Master return, we very well might be treated to a brief return of John Simm, who disappeared into the Time Lock with Rassilon in the Tenth Doctor's final story "The End of Time" in 2010. With an actor of Peter Capaldi's caliber stepping into the role of The Doctor, Simm's take on The Master doesn't seem a proper fit (it was certainly a product of the Davies' era) & its fairly easy to imagine Capaldi & Dance squaring off against each other. I mean, its quite possible the room would explode with all the high-quality acting.

I am more leaning towards the above picture being a fake, but only because the mistake seems such an odd one to make (as in, its hard to imagine what someone would be doing that would cause them to accidentally paste 4 filenames into a tweet & then, equally accidentally, publish that tweet) while, at the same time, being an easy way for someone who would be likely to pull a Photoshop to offer "proof" without actually having to come up with any actual "proof". It seems, as always, only time will tell.