Next Saturday, Doctor Who returns to Disney Plus with all new episodes when the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) first meets Belinda Chandra (Varada Sethu) after she is kidnapped by robots from outer space. The Doctor starts his journey to return her to Earth in his TARDIS, only to be stopped by a mysterious force. The two will face new dangers and bigger enemies than ever before.

A new companion means that the dynamic between the main characters is going to be quite different as they are trying to return to earth, according to Gatwa and Sethu who spoke with SciFi Vision recently. “For one, this season, we're trying to get back to Earth, which is like a deviation from the usual direction, trying to get out into space and tackle things, but Belinda has absolutely no interest and is not charmed at all by the Doctor at first,” explained Gatwa. “The Doctor lives a very dangerous life. It’s great. We love the Doctor. He's also very dangerous.”

“The bond…I guess it takes a little longer,” he continued. “It's slower, but it's just as deep as any that there's been, maybe more so. The payoff is that they really value each other, and they value each other's value systems. But yeah, she challenges him and calls him out.”

“They're very much equals,” Sethu told SciFi Vision. “They're a team figuring out how to get back home, because she decides she's got very much her own life, her own plot, her own main character journey. And when she gets plucked out of that by the Doctor, in some ways, all she wants is to go home. She doesn't want to be somebody else's little adventure. She wants to go back to her life.”

“So, she challenges him; she holds him accountable, and eventually, they become very aligned,” Sethu added. “They realize that they need to work together to be this team, to get back to earth, to get back to where she wants to be. So, yeah, they have a really, really strong, equal [partnership].”

Viewers may not realize it at first, but Varada was actually in the series last season where she played a character in the episode “Boom.” The actress was ecstatic to come back. “As an actor, it was the best,” she told the press. “It was unbelievable. I literally could not believe that I was able to come back, because I didn't know there was a history of actors who had played another role and then came back as a companion.”

The actress added that she was curious to see how Russell T. Davies would deal with the connection of the characters. “I love that he's managed to tie it into the story, into how and why their relationship is so special…it’s a genetic link, and there's an importance to why the Doctor keeps coming back to this person,” teased Varada.

For Gatwa, he’s settled in a bit with one season as well as a holiday special already under his belt. “It was definitely a joy coming back to the second season and being able to explore the character further, having him feel more settled in my skin,” said the actor. “It's just the natural process of having done a season and coming back for the next one. So, yeah, there was more comfortability.”

During the conference, Sethu also touched on what it meant to be part of the first TARDIS team that is made up of solely people of color. “It meant a huge amount,” said the actress. “You know, I try not to take on the pressure of that, because I think I want to free myself up to being creative, to being playful. I think if you put on the pressure of being the first of anything, it takes away, in some ways, the joy, because you don't want to feel like you're being scrutinized, but hopefully the payoff is that what we create is something authentic and that feels genuine.”

The actress continued that she has gotten messages from all over the world about it. “It means a lot to me personally, but also, it's lovely to hear that it's the same for other people out there,” added Sethu.

For more from Gatwa and Sethu, including why they enjoy working together, what it’s like being in a hopeful series, their favorite episodes and costumes, and more, read the full transcript below. Doctor Who premieres April 12th on Disney Plus.

Ncuti Gatwa and Varada Sethu
Tuesday, March 25, 2025

***Edited for clarity and length***

SCIFI VISION:   So, obviously with the new companion, things are going to be quite different. Can you sort of talk about how that relationship develops for both of you? We'll just start with Ncuti.

NCUTI GATWA:   Yes, Belinda, well, for one, this season, we're trying to get back to Earth, which is like a deviation from the usual direction, trying to get out into space and tackle things, but Belinda has absolutely no interest and is not charmed at all [laughs] by the Doctor.

VARADA SETHU:   At first.

NCUTI GATWA:   At first. Also, you know, the Doctor lives a very dangerous life. It’s great. We love the Doctor. He's also very dangerous. [laughs]

And Belinda, really, like we have to take stock of that, right? So, the bond is like formed in a slightly - I guess it takes a little longer. It's slower, but it's just as deep as any that there's been, maybe more so. The payoff is that they really value each other, and they value each other's value systems.

But yeah, she challenges him and calls him out. [Do] you want to speak more on that?

VARADA SETHU:   Yeah, yeah. They're very much equals. They're a team figuring out how to get back home, because she decides she's got very much her own life, her own plot, her own main character journey. And when she gets plucked out of that by the Doctor, in some ways, all she wants is to go home. She doesn't want to be somebody else's little adventure. She wants to go back to her life.

So, she challenges him; she holds him accountable, and eventually, they become very aligned. They realize that they need to work together to be this team, to get back to earth, to get back to where she wants to be. So, yeah, they have a really, really strong, equal - I don't know.

NCUTI GATWA:   Partnership.

VARADA SETHU:   Yeah, partnership.

QUESTION:   My question is for the both of you, but I'll be starting with Varada first. I wanted to ask how it feels to be part of the first TARDIS team that's solely just people of color and what it means for the both of you and what it might mean for the fans watching the series.

VARADA SETHU:   I mean, that was something that we acknowledged quite early on.

NCUTI GATWA:   Yeah.

VARADA SETHU:   We just both had this moment, I was like, “Look at us.”

NCUTI GATWA:   Right.

VARADA SETHU:   Look at us.

NCUTI GATWA:   [laughs] In the TARDIS.

VARADA SETHU:   Yeah, it meant a huge amount. You know, I try not to take on the pressure of that, because I think I want to free myself up to being creative, to being playful. I think if you put on the pressure of being the first of anything, it takes away, in some ways, the joy, because you don't want to feel like you're being scrutinized. But hopefully the payoff is that what we create is something authentic and that feels genuine.

And now that we're kind of out the other end of that period of filming, it's like I can now look back and appreciate how special an experience it was and how special it means to - I'm getting messages from people all around the world saying it means a lot to see a brown person or a team comprised of people of color. And yeah, it means a lot to me personally, but also, it's lovely to hear that it's the same for other people out there.

QUESTION:   I was wondering if the both of you could speak to each other's qualities that you possess as actors that make you enjoy working with one another and doing scenes with one another.

When you show up to work, Ncuti, what do you look at Varada and say, “Oh, this is why I love working with you.”? And Varada, what do you love about working with Ncuti?

NCUTI GATWA:   Oh my God, what Varada brings out of the text is just so brilliant. The text is very specific, and it's tough, and it's complex. We're speaking a lot of sci-fi language, a lot of [laughs] words that don't exist, and Varada is able to, like, take that language and make it so authentic and so naturally hers that I'm like, “Wow, the way you interpret text is just incredible.” Also, just the screen presence on a hundred, there's authenticity; there's truth. As cliche as this is to say, like truth is what I think you want to try and communicate when you're acting, and I've just always gotten that in tenfold from you.

I don't know how to articulately say [it], just she's a very, very good actor. I don't know how to make that more poetic, but like a very good actor, and you want to work with someone very good, so generous, like you're able to - the chemistry was just there from the outset, and it was just like instantly, like there's so much to bounce off that you're able to create something. And yeah, play your intentions. Yeah. [laughs]

VARADA SETHU:   I think, for me, Ncuti is just such a brilliant, bright energy, and your Doctor, just like you, is so dynamic. There's just this energy that you bring to to the text, to the screen, to set that you can't help but want to join that and match that energy. There's this vibrancy, and I keep using that for how you play the Doctor. It's just so vibrant. It's just such a joy to be around.

And also, just as a person, I think you're a brilliant listener. You're such an amazing listener, and that's such a good quality in an actor as well, because it's so easy to work off you. There's just such a richness in everything he brings to the table. It's like it's a feast constantly when I'm playing opposite him, because there's so many little tidbits to latch onto when you’re saying something it's like, “Oh, there's a moment of comedy I can find there.” I don't know. It just comes so easily and naturally with him.

NCUTI GATWA:   I feel exactly the same about you. Gravitas, such gravitas, which is rich. Yeah. We could go on forever. [laughs]

VARADA SETHU:   We’ll spend the whole twenty-five minutes talking about - [laughs]

QUESTION:   So, words really reverberate throughout this first episode for your characters, for others. Does that continue throughout the season where those words are echoing back, especially with your two characters?

NCUTI GATWA:   I wouldn't say too much. I'd say that was a theme that felt quite exclusive to the first episode.

VARADA SETHU:   Yeah, if you're talking specifically about the counting.

QUESTION:   That, but also what Alan says comes back. Some of the things you said to him come back. What the Doctor was told about you swings back around. It's like they're echoing through time.

VARADA SETHU:   Yeah.

NCUTI GATWA:   Yes! Yes.

VARADA SETHU:   That happens. That does happen a lot.

NCUTI GATWA:   Uh huh.

VARADA SETHU:   And there are a lot of Easter eggs, but they're not Easter eggs. That's not the right word. They're breadcrumbs. They're breadcrumbs that all tie into - we can’t give away - [laughs]

NCUTI GATWA:   We can’t talk too much! But that's such a beautiful thing that you've picked up on in terms of - I think generally, anyway, in life, time is not linear. I feel like it's like the infinity symbol, and that is so present in Doctor Who.

VARADA SETHU:   In Doctor Who. Just timey-wimey.

NCUTI GATWA:   Timey-wimey, like things come back.

VARADA SETHU:   There's lots of echoes that, it's like an ebb and flow. Things come and go and come and go and come and go, and you'll realize the things that are building up to interesting, fun things.

NCUTI GATWA:   The things that we can't say.

QUESTION:   I just wanted to ask something for both of you. First, Ncuti, do you feel like you're more settled now that this is your second go-around in the TARDIS as the Doctor? And then, does it feel like you get to be the one who kind of helps Varada get used to this kind of crazy, surreal world where anything can happen? It's like…Now that's robots. Now we're cartoon characters. And then finding the space in the script to play around, like when you do a high kick, or you do drumming, and when suddenly there's a gesture or a look. Can you talk a bit about that?

NCUTI GATWA:   Yes, it was definitely a joy coming back to the second season and being able to explore the character further, having him feel more settled in my skin. It's just the natural process of having done a season and coming back for the next one. So, yeah, there was more comfortability.

There [were] more areas I wanted to explore, and it was obviously going to be new challenges. Challenges isn't the right word, but for the character anyway, he was going to grow in different ways, because it was new people in his life. In terms of getting [laughs] like V hit the ground running and smashed it from the first day.

VARADA SETHU:   Oh, but you laid it out. You were so welcoming.

NCUTI GATWA:   But I mean, you were brilliant. We got on anyway, and it was brilliant. I think it's interesting. these two roles in this show, they really have to lean on each other equally as actors playing these roles. But then also, narratively, they're really leaning on each other this season, because they both have the challenge of trying to get back home and they don't know - the Doctor doesn't know why he can't, so they're equally as confused. [laughs]

They equally have to lean on each other. So, that was a nice on-off-screen thing that was happening, because I was still getting used to the madness of it all as well. So, it was really nice to have someone as grounded and as generous as you to be able to go through that journey with, because it's quite a journey. Thank God I was by V's side.

QUESTION:   I actually wanted to ask Varada specifically, we know that, obviously, before you became the companion, you were in “Boom” last year. So, I wanted to ask, from an actor’s point of view, how did that come about, you coming back to the show? And then is there anything you can tease about the show going forward with how the two may relate?

VARADA SETHU:   As an actor, it was the best. It was unbelievable. I literally could not believe that I was able to come back, because I didn't know there was a history of actors who had played another role and then came back as a companion. So, I just thought once I got to play a guest lead in “Boom,” that that was shut, and I was very sad about that, because I had such a great time. So, when I got the call as an actor that, you know, I could come back as a companion, it was just, I literally couldn't have dreamt of it, because I just thought, “Well, it's gone now. I've ticked that box. I can't go back.” So, yeah, it meant a lot.

And then, I was very, very curious to see how Russell [Davies] would write in, you know, how he would make a nod towards [laughs] that connection. And I love that. I love that he's managed to tie it into the story into how and why their relationship is so special, because, you know, you keep coming across - it's a genetic link, and there's an importance to why the Doctor keeps coming back to this person. So, yeah.

QUESTION:   This is always a show that works so hard to lift people up and kind of give them hope. And I'm curious what it means to each of you to be part now of a story that inspires hope in these times when people really need it.

NCUTI GATWA:   Great. It feels really great to be doing something artistically that does that, and I think it's also lovely to be, it's quite rare to have a show that does that. That's like, the real message behind each episode is hope and upliftment. And to have two leads as well, two heroes that are attuned to like non-violence, I guess, is quite rare and beautiful, a show that encourages learning and compassion and curiosity.

VARADA SETHU:   I think that's what I like the most about Doctor Who as a franchise. It does exactly what you said. The core themes coming from the Doctor's point of view is curiosity, is about learning. It's about understanding each other, communicating with, connecting with other people. I think, generally speaking, the belief system comes from a place of love, and I love - I'm so grateful to be part of a show that that's where the angle's coming from. Generally, you know, I think the world can be a scary place, and so it's nice to be part of something that feels like it's coming from the right place.

QUESTION:   Obviously, tomorrow's a big day for us Whovians, 20 years since Russell revived the show. I just wanted to know, out of curiosity, from the past 20 years of New Who, if you had a particularly favorite episode, or it could even include one from this upcoming season?

NCUTI GATWA:   I'm going to say what some people say. “Blink.” I'd say either “Blink,” or I really love - I don't know why. I guess it's my religious upbringing, but I really loved when he faced the devil at that time, and like the devil took over the Ood and brainwashed the Ood. That episode I found so, so brilliant, because I feel like it was like this sort of start of Russell incorporating fantasy, or like, it was like a slight deviation from sci-fi. It felt like the first episode I watched in that season that was like, less sci-fi and more like, mystical. So, yeah, I love those two.

VARADA SETHU:   I think, for me, I’m going to say an episode from our season. My favorite episode is the second episode. It's set in 1950s Miami, and we become animated very briefly. So, I just loved that. I loved the process of filming that, but also just I love that it was a cartoon villain. Yeah, it was just so much fun. That was my favorite episode.

QUESTION:   In the opening of the show, we're dealing with kind of a sense of loss. Without spoiling anything, I wanted to know…do you feel that that is something that is shown throughout the series for this season?

NCUTI GATWA:   Shown before this season?

QUESTION:   No, no, during this season.

NCUTI GATWA:   During the season. Oh, loss.

QUESTION:   Does it impact…?

NCUTI GATWA:   Certainly. Certainly. Oh, loss. Loss is a big theme of the Doctor. He faces that a lot. He's lost a lot of companions. He's survivor of. He's a survivor of a genocide. I mean, it speaks to like his - you know, we've always known the Doctor to be quite emotionally distant at times, and it's because he's suffered a lot of loss, and there's been a lot of trauma there. So, yeah, that's definitely a theme throughout the season.

QUESTION:   My question is mostly for Ncuti. You had some amazing looks in season one, and we've seen some great looks in season two so far in the trailer and in this episode. How involved are you with creating the looks for your Doctor, and do you have a favorite?

And Varada, do you also have a favorite from your season as well for your looks?

NCUTI GATWA:   You know what, earlier I was talking about the spacesuits in episode three, but actually I've just remembered his outfit when he goes back to Lagos. And his hair, he's got cornrows; he had an afro. That was really cool, because it felt - it was a very black centric episode, and that came out in the fashion. So, yeah, that was really cool [and] really nice to explore each genre through the fashion.

VARADA SETHU:   Yeah. Yeah. I think my favorite [has] still gotta be the 1950s dress. I loved that sort of Westside Story yellow. I also, really, I do genuinely love a good spacesuit. So, I love that spacesuit.

NCUTI GATWA:   It was a good look.