‘Doctor Who’ Stars Ncuti Gatwa and Varada Sethu on Season 2’s ‘Madness,’ the Doctor’s Relationship With New Companion Belinda and the Show’s Future

'Doctor Who' stars Ncuti Gatwa and Varada Sethu on their characters' relationship, upcoming episodes in Season 2 and the future of the show.

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After guest starring in the third episode of Ncuti Gatwa‘s inaugural season of “Doctor Who,” Varada Sethu believed her time on the iconic British sci-fi series was over.

“I left and I just thought, ‘Well, it’s a shame that door’s closed now,'” Sethu recalls to Variety over Zoom alongside Gatwa. Little did she know she’d be back on the show’s Cardiff set shortly — and not as her Season 1 character Mundy Flynn, but the Doctor’s new companion Belinda Chandra.

“She just blew me away,” Gatwa says of Sethu, who has also held roles in Disney+’s “Star Wars” series “Andor” and 2022 blockbuster “Jurassic World Dominion.” As Whovians will see in her debut episode, her Belinda is a different kind of companion — instead of happily coming along for a spin in the Tardis, her priority is to get home to her job as an emergency room nurse.

“What [showrunner and writer Russell T Davies was] looking for in Belinda is someone who is the Doctor’s equal and who can match him, match his energy, go up against him, isn’t afraid to confront him if he crosses a boundary,” Sethu says. “So I think things just fell into place for that.”

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After Belinda initially meets the Doctor in Season 2’s first episode — premiering on Saturday on the U.K.’s BBC One and BBC iPlayer and Disney+ elsewhere — they encounter an issue in the Tardis that prevents her from going home and instead takes them on adventures across time and space. Upcoming storylines include a cartoon-style episode starring Alan Cumming, a Eurovision-inspired stop at the Interstellar Song Contest with Graham Norton and the Doctor’s first-ever trip to Africa. Plus, Millie Gibson is back as companion Ruby Sunday, though she doesn’t make an appearance in the premiere.

Below, Gatwa and Sethu discuss the relationship between the Doctor and Belinda, tease upcoming episodes and address rumors about the future of the show.

Ncuti Gatwa: It feels like returning home. The character feels a lot more comfortable in my skin now; I was just chomping at the bit to get back into those shoes. I was excited to see where he was going to go this season and how he was going to grow and what challenges he was going to be up against. But really, really excited because I felt more settled. The first time around it feels slightly manic, but you go through that and now I feel a lot more settled and comfortable in it.

Varada Sethu: I couldn’t believe that I got to come back. I was in the previous season in an episode, “Boom,” and it just felt like home. I felt like I was part of the family, it felt so natural and like a lovely little nest. And then I left and I just thought, “Well, it’s a shame that door’s closed now.”

NG: It was sad!

VS: So when I got the call to say that I get to come back for a more permanent basis, I literally couldn’t believe it. I was so excited to be able to work with you and Millie and the team. It was the best year ever.

NG: She just blew me away.

VS: I think it’s because we just got on so well. Russell said in the meeting that it was so great to see the screen chemistry. What they were looking for in Belinda as a character is someone who is the Doctor’s equal and who can match him, match his energy, go up against him, isn’t afraid to confront him if he crosses a boundary. And Mundy Flynn is that from the moment that she meets him. So I think things just fell into place for that.

VS: Russell wrote it and he’s just so supportive and involved and has a vision, so he was definitely there to guide me when I needed it. When it came to developing the character, I just threw myself into it. There’s so much of me in Belinda because I just didn’t have the time. I got it, and within a couple of weeks I was on set. So it had to just be me — I had to fill in the gaps.

NG: That’s a quick turnaround.

VS: It’s the character I feel the most vulnerable about because it’s the closest thing to me. But I think I got a sense for who she is and what she’s like as the season went on. But certainly in the first episode, a lot of the confusion and fear is real. It was just being thrown into it. I think I’m a caring person and Belinda’s a caring person, I think I’m also not afraid to hold people accountable.

NG: Strong, independent. She’s too humble to say it.

Varada Sethu in Season 2 of BBC/Disney+’s “Doctor Who.”

VS: It came very naturally. Even from the first day, I set up camp in his and Millie’s tent to talk to them and hang out with them. Like, I didn’t go to my own green room.

NG: For me, I will always love that morning when we were just watching “Scooby-Doo” as serious character research for the animation in Episode 2, because it’s a Hanna Barbera-style cartoon. We didn’t know what that was and Googled it and just sat and watched “Scooby-Doo” when we were crafting these characters.

VS: We’re just kids.

NG: But also, we’re figuring things out together. Like every day, we have to figure out how to get through the madness that is “Doctor Who.” The joy — absolute joy — but it’s a crazy show so you’re like, “How do we figure this out?” And the Doctor and Belinda are also going through this journey of, “How do we figure the craziness of the universe out?” I feel like that first episode is so brilliant in establishing them, because the responsibility in Belinda’s life and the level of crises and madness — the Doctor has to sit down. You literally almost push him aside at one point to go and help the patients. You don’t need anything from him.

NG: He definitely still wears his heart on his sleeve. The Doctor’s been wandering the universe for thousands and thousands of years and has suffered a lot of tragedy. And I just think this iteration isn’t afraid to — it sits in him, the shame of having lost people, the trauma of having escaped a genocide and he’s the last of his kind. There’s a lot of darkness, I guess, that follows the Doctor around. And this iteration feels free to release that. He has two hearts, so I think that he feels things very deeply. In terms of this season and the emotional arc, Belinda really challenges him to look introspectively and to sort of analyze his interpersonal relationships and really helps him grow. They grow together, but also Belinda’s really challenged him to grow individually. To me, it feels like their relationship is the story this season.

VS: You might have to watch it. She’s part of the team.

NG: Ruby’s not gone anywhere. At all. It’s definitely a Tardis team. We take down the big bads together, all of us. That’s all we can say.

Varada Sethu and Ncuti Gatwa in Season 2 of BBC/Disney+’s “Doctor Who.”

NG: I mean, [Episode 2] was mad. We were acting with a three-foot cardboard cutout and it kept falling over.

VS: Oh my God. The arm would break.

NG: But then AD would click on a sound recording and coming out of it, booming, would be Alan Cummings’ incredible performance. It was terrifying. That episode — they have no idea how they’re going to defeat a cartoon. How do you do that? And our costumes were very exciting — [costume designer] Pam Downe is back at the helm and she’s incredible. I’m excited for people to see Episode 5, the Doctor goes to Nigeria and the Tardis has never been to Africa before. The Doctor wanted to go there because he feels the safest there, this iteration, which I found very interesting because he’s an alien and this is the first time he’s started — I guess to get treated like an alien. So yeah, he goes there to be safe and then chaos ensues.

VS: I loved “Interstellar Song Contest” so much. It had Rylan who is brilliant, so funny. It’s just such a spectacle, there’s so many elements to it. Crazy performances, crazy alien costumes. That was an episode where, if you’re going into the catering tent at breakfast you’d just see parrot people walking by. It’s got such a great sense of humor, but also dark themes and some reveals.

NG: Did you hear the list of things that I just reeled off? My head is only full of Season 2, because it’s been so epic. It’s very ironic that in a show about time travel you can’t talk about the future, but I can talk about Season 2 and how brilliant it is and how brilliant Varada is.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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