Doctor Who follows a time lord, a Doctor of Science who loves planet Earth and travels the galaxy to solve problems and protect his favorite planet. So far, in his 15th regeneration, actor Ncuti Gatwa takes the reigns of the TARDIS. Varada Sethu is set to be the new companion for the fifteenth doctor in the fifteenth season of Doctor Who, which is set to air in 2025. The actress will be playing Belinda Chandra, the character in the most recent teaser who insisted that The Doctor take her back home.
The Doctor Who Franchise
Before the famous show that viewers today are familiar with, The Doctor Who franchise was originally a comic strip series in 1965. Additionally, before this comic strip series, the first Doctor Who TV series surprisingly began in 1963, in black and white before ending in 1989 with color. The plot is always the same; a time lord called a doctor (of science) travels time and space and battles against aliens and other creatures. He changes personality and appearance each time he is near death and is joined by a companion of his travels.
A new Doctor Who TV series would soon be revived by BBC One in 2005 before ending in 2022, quickly followed in 2023 by the newest television series of Doctor Who on Disney+. Ncuti Gatwa is the latest actor to play The Doctor in the fifteenth season of Disney’s Doctor Who. His companion during the first season of this show was a girl named Ruby Sunday, who was played by Millie Gibson. The fourteenth series of Doctor Who has since ended, with Ruby with her new family, the story of Sutekh finished, and a narrator ending the finale on an ominous note of The Doctor’s fate.
Ruby Sunday
Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) met The Doctor on the first episode of the 2023 Doctor Who television show, whose birth story is unknown. She decided to join and travel with The Doctor because she wanted to know about her origins, and he was the best solution to that mystery. After experiencing his travels for the first few episodes, the only bits of information Ruby knew about her birth story is that she was left at a church as a baby and named after a road. She met The Doctor when they both hopped onto a ladder trying to save another baby by sheer coincidence.
They met on a Sunday and got along fine even though they were both in a dangerous situation, hanging from a ladder in the sky, because he helped her. She was gravely taken back by the knowledge of time travel and inhuman creatures, reacting with more horror than The Doctor who was amazed by everything. However, in the first episode, she showed how well she could adapt, improvise, and work under pressure and fear. They bonded over the fact that neither knew about their origins.
Unfortunately, unlike their first moments together, their final moments were quite sad after Sunday found her mom. The Doctor had opposing opinions but wanted Sunday to make her own choices on whether she should confront her mother, seeing as she only found her again through time travel. Her moment of meeting her mother at last, and her farewell to The Doctor all happened in the last episode of the season, ‘Episode 8: Empire of Death’. Her impact as The Doctor’s companion was helping him reshape his perspective of family, as she chose to stay to meet the rest of her family.
Varada Sethu
Varada Sethu will be playing the role of The Doctor’s next companion, Belinda Chandra. Not much is known about her character yet, aside from the fact she and they began on a rocky start. Unlike Sunday who was amazed by his inventions and got along with him quickly, Belinda Chandra was shown to be stressed, unamused, and not as open to the idea of space and time travel.
The Doctor is trying to grant her wish to return home, but something prevents them from doing so. Belinda now finds herself stuck with the space-time traveling wanderer for the time being. It is an interesting start, but she will likely be another grounded companion for The Doctor after he parted ways with Ruby, who was almost as whimsical as him. For now, theories and opinions about this new companion are few, as viewers have only gotten a couple of seconds to know her character.
15th Doctor Season 2 Teaser
The trailers and teasers for season two of Disney’s Doctor Who were released very recently, just one or two days ago as of this date. On the YouTube channel for Disney Plus, the official teaser begins with The Doctor reaching out for something before the screen fades to black. It is a very ominous opening, with spaceships and a line and face reveal of the new companion who appears distressed, and a scene of the TARDIS not working properly. The Doctor and Belinda may have more dangerous adventures, but time will tell once the first episode of Season 2 comes.
With a few more seconds of action, very light cursing, and scary scenes, the Season 2 teaser shows the viewers exactly what kind of atmosphere to expect for the next season. It almost seems like the teaser is showing that season two will be scarier than season one, which first began with goblins about to eat a baby. The season two teaser showed a clip of a giant cartoon character stepping out of the movie screen, and the movie watchers running away. After that, everything fades to black and then to the Disney+ logo.
Welcome, Belinda Chandra!
The roles of companions for each doctor aren’t like an assistant or an intern. It is exactly as it sounds – a companion to join him on his travels, to help him when needed and perhaps to avoid loneliness. The 15th Doctor’s goodbye to Ruby Sunday was disheartening for the season finale, but now Belinda Chandra can join him and become a unique companion. She seems more serious and mature, which may suit the atmosphere and balance with the quirky time lord.
