With Doctor Who set to launch its second season on Disney+ next week, the marketing has finally sped up, with TV appearances stateside for both of the series’ stars — Ncuti Gatwa, who plays The Doctor, and Varada Sethu, who rejoins the show this season as new companion Belinda Chandra, after appearing in last year’s Season 1 episode “Boom”. I had the honor to be involved with a press conference last week ahead of the show’s release with both in attendance, even personally asking the pair my very own question – a real career highlight thus far!
The TARDIS Team’s Slow-Burning But Powerful Bond In ‘Doctor Who’ Season 2
The press conference began with Jamie Ruby from Sci-Fi Vision up first, asking about how the relationship develops between The Doctor and Belinda in Season 2. Ncuti Gatwa was quick to reply: “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.” Sethu added in that she isn’t charmed by him “at first,” hinting towards some movement between the two later on in the season. Gatwa continued: “The Doctor lives a very dangerous life. Great. We love The Doctor! He’s also very dangerous, and we have to take stock of that, right? So the bond is 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. She challenges him and calls him out.”
Sethu described the duo as “very much equals”. She explained how the new TARDIS team were “figuring out how to get back home because she decides… she’s got 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, and she holds him accountable. Eventually, you know, they become very aligned and 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… They have a really, really strong equal, partnership.”
Ncuti and Varada Discuss Being The First TARDIS Team Solely Made Up Of People Of Colour
On behalf of our good friends Agents of Fandom, Christopher Mills (aka Christopher Rates It) asked the duo about how it felt to be a part of the first TARDIS team that is solely people of colour, and how it felt for the duo and also for audiences watching the show.
Varada Sethu was the one to respond, acknowledging the significance of the moment while emphasising the importance of staying present and creative. “That was something that we acknowledged quite early on. We just both had this moment, as like, ‘Look at us, look at us!’ It meant a huge amount.” She explained that while she recognised the weight of representation, she tried not to let it become a pressure that overshadowed the joy of the experience. “I try not to take 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.”
Now, with filming behind her, she’s able to fully appreciate the significance of it all. “I’m getting messages from people all around the world saying it means a lot to see a brown person, or a team that is comprised of people of color. It means a lot to me personally. But also, it’s lovely to hear that it’s the same for other people out there.”
Ncuti Gatwa on Supporting Varada Sethu Joining The TARDIS Team
Adi Tantimedh from Bleeding Cool asked Ncuti how it felt returning for his second season and what it was like helping Varada navigate the surreal world of Doctor Who.
“It was definitely a joy coming back to the second season and being able to explore the character further, and having him feel more settled in my skin – just the natural process of having done a season and coming back for the next one,” Ncuti shared. “There was more comfortability, it was more areas I wanted to explore, and it was obviously going to be new challenges for The Doctor anyway. He was going to grow in different ways because it was new people in his life. V[arada] hit the ground running and smashed it from the first day.”
Varada chimed in, calling Ncuti “welcoming.”
“You were brilliant,” Ncuti responded. “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 narratively they’re really leaning on each other this season because they both have the challenge of trying to get back home. The Doctor doesn’t know, so they’re equally as confused. I was still getting used to the madness of it all as well, and so it was really nice to have someone as grounded and as generous as Varada to be able to go through that journey with. So, thank God I was by V’s side.”
Ncuti Gatwa & Varada Sethu On Their ‘Doctor Who’ Season 2 Chemistry
During the press conference, Cherry the Geek TV’s Joe Vanourney asked Ncuti Gatwa and Varada Sethu to reflect on what qualities they admired in each other as actors. Their responses were filled with mutual admiration, highlighting the strengths that made their collaboration on Doctor Who so effortless and rewarding.
Ncuti was full of praise for Varada’s ability to bring authenticity to even the most complex dialogue. He acknowledged the challenge of delivering sci-fi-heavy lines, filled with unfamiliar terms, but commended her skill in making them feel natural and deeply personal. “What Varada brings out of the text is so brilliant. The text is very specific, and it’s tough and it’s complex. Speaking a lot of sci-fi language, a lot of words that don’t exist, and Varada is able to 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,” he said. He also highlighted her commanding screen presence and generosity as a scene partner, adding, “The truth is, as cliché as this is to say, like truth is, I think you want to try and communicate when you’re acting, and I’ve just always gotten that tenfold from you… A very good actor, and you want to work with someone very good, so generous, the chemistry was just there from the outset, and it was just, like, instantly, there’s so much to bounce off, that you’re able to create something.”
Varada was equally glowing in her response, describing Ncuti as a “brilliant, bright energy,” both on and off-screen. She spoke about the dynamism and vibrancy he brings to the role of The Doctor, making it impossible not to match his enthusiasm. “There’s just this energy that you bring to this, to the text, to the screen, to the set, that you can’t help but want to join that and match that energy,” she shared. She also highlighted his exceptional ability as a listener, which made their scenes together feel organic and full of unexpected moments. “There’s just such a richness in everything he brings to the table, it’s like a feast constantly, when I’m playing opposite him, because there are 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, or I don’t know, it just comes so easily and naturally with him.”
Ncuti wrapped up their exchange with a playful yet heartfelt conclusion, joking, “I feel exactly the same about you. Gravitas. It’s such gravitas, which is rich.” Their clear respect and enthusiasm for each other’s work set an exciting tone for their on-screen partnership, promising electric chemistry in Doctor Who‘s upcoming adventures.
Ncuti Gatwa & Varada Sethu Share Their Favourite Episodes of ‘Doctor Who’ In Honour of 20 Years of NuWho
The time had finally come for my question to be asked, I first congratulated the pair on the premiere (keep your eyes peeled for a review for that one) and began my question, providing the context of the 20 year anniversary of NuWho, which coincidentally was the day after the Press Conference. In honour of it, I asked the pair for a favourite episode each from the last 20 years of Who, which could be one of their own episodes or one from the show’s past.
Ncuti was first, and he was quick to share his two favourites: “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 that time and like, the devil took over the Ood and brainwashed the Ood.” Of course, Ncuti is referring to “The Impossible Planet” / “The Satan Pit”. He continued, “That episode I found so, so brilliant because I feel like it was like sort of the 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 less sci-fi and more mystical.”
Varada understood the assignment well, and gave us an upcoming episode from Season 2 – whether or not Varada has spent time going back through the last 20 years of Doctor Who is for the audience to figure out, she said: “I think for me, I’m going to say an episode from our season. My favorite episode is the second episode [“Lux”]. It’s set in 1950s Miami, and we become animated very briefly. I just loved that — I loved the process of filming that. But also just, I love that it was a cartoon villain [Mr Ring-A-Ding] — it was so just so much fun.”
The Timey-Wimey Costuming in ‘Doctor Who’ Season 2
Elizabeth from Temple Geek then spoke to Ncuti about his costuming, and whether or not he was involved with creating the looks, before asking Ncuti and Varada if they had a favourite costume each from Doctor Who Season 2. Ncuti started, “You know, earlier I was talking about the space suits in Episode Three [“The Well”], but actually, I’ve just remembered, this 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 that was a very black-centric episode and that came out in the fashion, so that was really cool and really nice to explore each genre through the fashion.” Varada joined in on the fashion discussion, adding, “I think my favorite is still got to be the 1950s dress. I loved that sort of ‘West Side Story‘ yellow, and I also really do genuinely love a good spacesuit, so I loved that spacesuit. It was a good look.”
The Significance of Loss For The Doctor
Dana Abercrombie, from The Koalition asked Ncuti about the theme of loss in Season 2 and whether it plays a significant role throughout the series.
“Loss is a big theme of The Doctor; he faces it a lot,” Ncuti acknowledged. “He’s lost a lot of companions, he’s a survivor of a genocide. 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… I can’t say too much.” He was quickly cut off by Varada, who teased that the pair couldn’t spoil anything about the upcoming episode, so who knows whether or not grief ties into the premiere “The Robot Revolution” in some shape or form?
Doctor Who Season 2 premieres on April 12 at 8am on BBC iPlayer in the UK, and elsewhere on Disney+. Check out a trailer below:
