Doctor Who Boss Confirms Two-Companion Plan for 2025 Season
The Doctor will be travelling with two companions come 2025, when the sci-fi series serves up its second season starring recently introduced front man Ncuti Gatwa.
Two-and-a-half months after word leaked out of the UK that Andor standout Varada Sethu had joined Doctor Who as a new companion — seemingly “replacing” franchise newbie Millie Gibson (who in the latest holiday special debuted as Ruby Sunday) — showrunner Russell T Davies has announced that Sethu and Gibson will both have a non-seat on the TARDIS for the season airing in 2025.
The first batch of adventures of the Fifteenth Doctor and companion Ruby Sunday will begin streaming Friday, May 10 at 7 pm EDT — on Disney+ in the U.S. and internationally (excluding the UK). In the UK, the season will kick off Saturday, May 11 at 12 am GMT (on BBC iPlayer, followed by BBC One later that day). Also of note: Season 14 will open with not one but two new episodes; it will then continue with a new episode released Stateside every Friday. (In the UK, episodes will drop on Saturday.)
“I first worked with Varada on a BBC production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and it’s a joy to welcome her on board the TARDIS,” Davies said in a statement, which was accompanied by a photo of Sethu, Gibson with Gatwa at a table read.
“Right now in the studio, shooting for 2025, we’ve got Ncuti, Millie and Varada fighting side by side,” Davies added. “We need all three, because the stakes are higher than ever!”
Sethu, who played Cinta Kaz, a member of the Aldhani rebel infiltration team, in Season 1 of Disney+’s Andor Star Wars series, said in her own statement, “I feel like the luckiest person in the world. It is such an honour to be a part of the Whoniverse, and I’m so grateful to the whole Doctor Who family — because that is what they are — for welcoming me with open arms and making me feel so at home. I couldn’t ask for a better team than Ncuti and Millie to be on this adventure with. This is so much fun!”
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Back when Varada’s hiring was announced, was there ever any indication that Millie was leaving, or did everyone just immediately jump to that conclusion?
Varada Sethu’s hiring was officially announced today. What I think you’re asking is, why did people think Millie Gibson was leaving, back when Sethu’s hiring was first reported? The answer to that is fairly simple — it was the same report. The Daily Mirror’s Nicola Methven (who has a good track record on Who news) broke the story that Gibson being dropped in favor of Sethu. The obviously unconfirmed reports state that Gibson would be appearing in a handful of episodes in the Ncuti Gatwa’s second season before being replaced by Sethu.
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Also, following the report that Gibson was being dropped, Gatwa posted a photo of the two of them, with the caption “My lil” and Gemini and heart emoji.
Got it. The original leak did actually contain false info, rather than the story simply getting distorted in a game of “journalistic telephone.”
this show has generated decades of false info from UK press.
EVERYBODY jumped 😂
Good to know that there will be two companions, instead of one.