Doctor Who newcomer Varada Sethu is well-adjusted to the franchise life.
The British-Indian actress, who has featured in the likes of Andor and Jurassic World Dominion, steps into the shoes of Ncuti Gatwa‘s next companion in season 15 of the long-running series.
She’s used to the fervid fanbases, the 32-year-old tells The Hollywood Reporter. “[But] I try not to take pressure on,” she says. “I had a Zoom with [Andor showrunner] Tony Gilroy and he said: ‘I don’t want you thinking about this as a Star Wars show. It just happens to be set in the same universe.”
“I think it’s applicable to Doctor Who,” she continues, unveiling a handy metaphor for staying down-to-earth — at least while shooting. “He said actors get a bit of altitude sickness; suddenly it becomes not play, but zaps your creative juices. That really stuck with me and I think I took that with me when I went on to Doctor Who… I’m just here. I’m this person in this cafe, talking to this character. But when we’ve wrapped I look back on it and I think, ‘Oh my God, I scaled that big mountain.’”
Returning to the BBC and Disney+ on Apr. 12, Russell T. Davies’ next instalment (also referred to as season two for Gatwa’s Doctor) follows the titular Time Lord and nurse Belinda Chandra (Sethu) as they embark on a quest to get Belinda back to earth, with Millie Gibson is expected to appear again as Ruby Sunday.
“She gets wrapped up in his world, and she doesn’t want any of it,” Sethu teases about Belinda’s arc. “She wants to go back to her life. She’s not afraid to stand up to the doctor. She’s very quick at reading him, and sees right through all of the smoke and mirrors. She’s not charmed by him — or she thinks he’s charming, but wants to go home.”
The star says this dynamic between the duo will feel refreshing for longtime Doctor Who fans: “[Belinda] holds him accountable. She calls him out when his etiquette slips. He’s this alien that’s lived for so long, and a lot of it is spent experiencing loss and also living alone. And I think he is used to people putting him on a pedestal.”
“Belinda doesn’t do that,” she adds. “She sees him as a friend. She sees him as a partner in getting through this and it’s just a much more balanced and healthy relationship that they have.”
It didn’t take long for Gatwa and Sethu to build up an off-camera rapport capable of translating on screen. “He’s a joy to work with,” she tells THR. “It’s been one of my favorite jobs in my life and I think that comes across on screen. Belinda and the Doctor develop a really deep love and friendship and trust, and they have to form a team. That’s something quite different about her as a companion compared to previous ones — she’s very much an equal in this… [Ncuti] is such a special person and I’m so grateful to have him in my life.”
Coming on board as a companion was Sethu’s first straight offer of her career. It helped that she appeared in a season 14 episode, as Mundy Flynn in the episode “Boom.” “My response to my agent at that time was, ‘You know that I’ve been in it already, right?’ I had the meeting with Russell and [producer] Jane Tranter and they were so, so warm, and Russell was telling me the whole plot for the season.”
Sethu was under the impression that the meeting was an audition, and it wasn’t until Davies was revealing the detailed twists and turns of the season that it dawned on her. “I couldn’t believe it. I was completely over the moon,” she says.
Davies was the perfect showrunner for Sethu, she adds. “Sometimes shows can be a bit hierarchical. Where the showrunner is someone that you have to go through a few people to get to… But [Davies] is so knowledgeable, so supportive and involved. Certainly at the beginning of filming when I was feeling really wobbly and sometimes quite overwhelmed with being a companion, he would text me to reassure me: ‘I’ve just watched the rushes. You’re doing a brilliant job. You can call me any time.’ The door was always open.”
Admittedly, the actress was “more of a Star Wars girl” at school, but kept up with earlier seasons of Doctor Who — the days of Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant — through her friends. “It’s such a joy for it to come back into my life in such a different way,” Sethu adds. She’s done all she can now. The series is about to be back in possession of its wild fanbase.