Caution: spoilers ahead for Doctor Who season 15, episode 2, "Lux."

Doctor Who's past companions to Maestro and Mrs. Flood gleefully breaking the fourth wall. Oddly, that all looks small-time compared to what transpires in Doctor Who season 15's second episode, "Lux."

With Lux, a member of Doctor Who season 15's ending.

The Doctor Who Fans Being Alive Could Mean They're Real

If They Don't Disappear, They Must Be Real

As the Doctor explains it, the entire setup with the "Doctor Who" fans - the room, the three people, the logo, etc. - is fabricated by Lux as an illusion to keep Fifteen and Belinda trapped inside the film, just like the fake cop and Pye's late wife. As soon as the Doctor shatters this illusion, everything within it should cease to be, like turning off a torch. Because Lizzie, Hassan, and Robyn aren't real, therefore, they should disappear as soon as the Doctor stops interacting with them.

The three fans do exist, but the sight of the Doctor and Belinda crawling from their TV like something out of The Ring made them question reality.

Since this doesn't happen, the immediate, logical conclusion to draw is that the three fans in "Lux" genuinely exist, and there are several clues pointing in this direction. Shortly before the Doctor leaves them, Robyn laments, "we're the sort of characters who don't have surnames" as she prepares to blink out of reality. When Doctor Who's "Lux" credits roll, however, the three characters are listed as Lizzie Abel, Hassan Chowdry, and Robyn Gossage, which confirms the fans aren't quite as dispensable or meaningless as they thought.

A second clue came in Doctor Who's 2024 Christmas special. During his year at the Sandringham Hotel with Anita, the Doctor took up collecting model police boxes as a hobby, and was surprised at how popular these trinkets were online. The joke was a reference to Doctor Who fans collecting TARDIS merchandise, but it also played with the idea that "Doctor Who" exists as a TV show inside Doctor Who's universe - a theory that looks way more likely after season 15's "Lux."

It's possible, therefore, that the three fans do exist, but the sight of the Doctor and Belinda crawling from their TV like something out of The Ring made them question reality for a minute - a perfectly understandable reaction. Another option is that Lux did not create the fans as an illusion like the Doctor assumed, but rather sent the Doctor and Belinda into another dimension ("our" world, where Doctor Who is a TV show). As a Pantheon God, this would plausibly fall within Lux's power.

If The Doctor Who Fans Are Real, Does That Mean The Doctor Isn't?

The Doctor Isn't A Real Boy After All

Since the "Doctor Who" fans survive the events of "Lux," one must consider the possibility that the Doctor has his logic backwards: they're real and he is not.

The meta tone of Ncuti Gatwa's entire era s this concept. Maestro played the Doctor Who theme song, and Fifteen himself made a reference to "non-diegetic" music in the same episode, implying he could hear the show's soundtrack. Even in "Lux," the Doctor inexplicably yells "cut!" before wondering why he said it. All the details seem to be pointing toward an revelation that the Doctor is not real in Doctor Who, and the fact that Lizzie, Hassan, and Robyn live to see episode 3 adds further fuel to that fire.

Mrs. Flood has cosplayed as past companions such as Clara Oswald and Romana, indicating that she might be a member of the Whovian fan club.

The biggest indication that the Doctor isn't real in Doctor Who's universe, however, is Mrs. Flood. Anita Dobson's enigmatic character has referenced the Doctor on several occasions, often speaking as if he's her favorite literary creation. In Doctor Who season 14's ending, for example, she uttered, "I'm sorry to say his story ends in absolute terror."

Mrs. Flood, of course, can also address the audience directly, which once again creates a sense that the people watching the Doctor are real, and the Doctor himself is not. Also worth noting is how Mrs. Flood has cosplayed as past companions such as Clara Oswald and Romana, indicating that she might be a member of the Whovian fan club right alongside Lizzie, Hassan, and Robyn. By the end of Doctor Who season 15, the Time Lord's entire life could be confirmed as an elaborate fictional creation orchestrated by of the Pantheon or some higher entity.

Did The Doctor Bring The Doctor Who Fans To Life?

The God Of Life Strikes Again?

Another intriguing possibility to consider is that the three Doctor Who fans were not real when the Doctor met them, but they inadvertently became real in the aftermath. The climax of "Lux" involves Alan Cumming's titular villain draining regeneration energy from the Doctor's body in order to gain physical form. As seen with the butterfly the Doctor encountered when he first began traveling with Ruby Sunday, regeneration energy can sometimes be used to heal or revive living things, although this isn't a power the Doctor employs often.

As the Doctor's regeneration energy is flowing into Lux, he's thinking about Lizzie, Hassan, and Robyn. We know this because he tells Belinda to the advice those three fans offered. As such, it's feasible that the Doctor's thoughts, with his regeneration energy channeled through Lux as the fans' creator, brought the three humans to life. Before that moment, they really were just figments of Lux's illusion, but the Doctor's power of regeneration combined with the essence of a Pantheon God to create three living, breathing people.

By being connected to another Pantheon God - one of his own kind - Fifteen was perhaps able to briefly tap into his true, original gifts.

This idea harmonizes nicely with an existing Doctor Who theory that the Doctor is secretly the Pantheon's God of Life. Thanks to the Timeless Child retcon, the Doctor's race and place of origin are now tantalizingly unknown. The only clue lies in how the protagonist consistently defies death through the power of regeneration.

In their infinite wisdom, the Time Lords limited the Doctor's powers through scientific experimentation, restricting the number of regenerations that could happen without their express consent. If that Gallifreyan meddling hadn't taken place, the Doctor might be able to create life in a way that would explain how Lizzie, Hassan, and Robyn aren't dead at the end of "Lux."

The Doctor may not know it, but as the God of Life, they could possess the power of absolute creation. By being connected to another Pantheon God - one of his own kind - Fifteen was perhaps able to briefly tap into his true, original gifts and create three sentient Doctor Who-loving humans out of regeneration energy.