Doctor Who Series 12: 10 Huge Questions After Spyfall Part 2
4. Where Does This Story Fit In The Master's Timeline?
As we suspected the second part of Spyfall did not explain what happened to Missy, or confirm or deny where the Sacha Darwan incarnation fits into the character’s timeline. He knows about Jodrell Bank so this Master is after Anthony Ainley, but there are no guarantees he regenerated from Missy. Indeed, the lack of any reference to Missy’s near redemption, suggests that maybe he predates her. It would make sense of him having a TARDIS of his own, something we never see Missy with.
He could even be from a different timeline altogether. The John Simm Master’s final revenge on Missy for killing him (The Doctor Falls) could be that he regenerated into a different Master. Either that or he is another previously hidden incarnation, perhaps between the Roberts and the War Master versions.
It would preserve the finality of Missy’s ending, which at the time felt like the only way for the character to finally bow out. Important to note, however, that this was not a heroic ending. Missy was not stupid enough to think that her predecessor wouldn’t shoot her in the back. It’s as if she set it up as an admission that she could or should not be redeemed.
What we do know is that this version of the character lives for seventy-seven years following the events in wartime Paris. He presumably escaped from a Nazi concentration camp and aged very little during the time. That is some dedication to sticking to his plan, though without his TARDIS he had little choice, unless he interfered with his own past. He could have even borrowed the Delgado TARDIS at one point.