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Millie Gibson, who just weeks ago made her Doctor Who debut in the show’s Christmas special, will be replaced by Andor‘s Varada Sethu after one season.
The switch-up was first reported by the UK’s Daily Mail, and a source told our sister site Variety same. (TVLine has reached out to show reps for comment.)
Gibson played companion Ruby Sunday in Doctor Who: The Church on Ruby Road opposite fellow franchise newcomer Ncuti Gatwa. The Christmas special ended with Gibson’s Ruby Sunday meeting up with the Doctor in the TARDIS, and thus beginning her adventures with him through time and space.
“They are definitely troublemakers,” Gatwa told TVLine of the upcoming Doctor/Ruby dynamic. “They both like to see the mischief in each other and love that, and they also see in the pain in one another and want to heal that. They’re also both flirty and quite cheeky.”
Gibson is best known for playing Kelly Neelen in Coronation Street. She has also appeared in Butterfly, Jamie Johnson and Love, Lies and Records.
Gibson will still appear in Season 14, which is set to release in May on Disney+. Then in Season 15, which is currently in production, Sethu reportedly will debut as an even newer companion.
Sethu’s previous TV credits include the Disney+/Star Wars series Andor (where she played Cinta, a member of the rebel faction that raided the Aldhani garrison), Annika, Strike Back and more. She also has appeared in films such as Jurassic World Dominion, Now You See Me 2 and I Came By.
Gatwa, who replaced David Tennant and became the Fifteenth Doctor in early December 2023 (during the final 60th anniversary special), seemingly weighed in on the news with an Instagram Story photo of him and Gibson, accompanied by the caption, “My lil [Gemini] ❤️”
Wow, that was fast. I’m sure there’s an interesting story about why she was dropped so quickly (that we won’t hear for a few years…).
It may be something as simple as her not working well on the show. Not that she’s a bad actor or hard to work with.
Maybe she was just not the right fit for the series.
That happens more often than people would realize.
I guess we’ll find out once the new season starts.
It’s possible, but from what we’ve seen of her already, in my opinion, it’s not likely. She was wonderful in the Christmas special and her character was interesting. My guess is she asked off the show, and who knows why. She’s only 19–it might just have been too much for her. Not necessarily any drama here.
.
I haven’t seen Andor but Varada Sethu was wonderful in Strike Back. Her character was supposed to have a small role and be written out but she was so good they just kept writing for her and she was ultimately at the center of the big emotional storyline of the final season. She’s fantastic casting and I’m excited that she will be on the show.
Didn’t realize Millie Gibson was a redhead.
I read the article in the Daily Mail. She’s in the upcoming season and will be in some of the next season to finish up her story. This makes it sound like she was fired. And I guess she could have been. But, a companion only being on for one season is not unheard of on Doctor Who. They’ve finished filming the upcoming season and it seems her story is ending. There certainly could have been some drama behind the scenes. But, as a long time fan, I know it also could just be that her story is done. I think it just sounds odd to us because we’ve only seen her in one episode. But, she’s already finished filming one whole season and will be in some of the next one, that is currently filming. So, the timing doesn’t actually seem that weird. I do wish they wouldn’t have announced it so soon though. Now, we’ll all know she will be gone soon after the next season. It takes some of the suspense out of watching.
There’s not necessarily a story here : it’s very much in keeping with showrunner Russell T Davies previous era to have a cast change each season to keep the show fresh and moving. Only the first change (replacing Eccleston with Tennant) was not story motivated.
Well that sucks. I like the character of Ruby Sunday.
I like her too, but it makes sense for her to be a one-series companion – she has loved ones and a good life to return to in her present day.
Hopefully, she’ll beat the odds and make it home safely.
That was crazy fast.
Not really, Caroline John’s Dr. Liz Shaw, Ian Marter’s Dr. Harry Sullivan, Mary Tamm’s Romana, Freema Agyeman’s Martha Jones, Catherine Tate’s Donna Noble two runs, Pearl Makie’s Bill Potts, and John Bishop’s Dan Lewis all had about the same one-year tenure as Companions to their respective Doctors.
The issue isn’t the length of the run—there have certainly been one-series companions before—but the suggestion that she was “dropped.”
And that this is announced before the season even started. Did that ever happen before with new Doctor Who?
I don’t believe so but that was back when BBC & BBC America were in charge. Now it’s Disney and that’s a whole different ballgame. I’m sure there’s something going on behind the scenes but we’ll likely never hear the ‘truth’.
To be fair, the whole of Gatwa’s first season was finished filming a long while ago and his second season filming is well under way. So, whether this is a case of her not fitting in as well as hoped or a pre-planned exit (as noted there have bene plenty of one-season companions) the problem is that with such a long lead-time, details are bound to leak of arrivals/departures and are likely not as ‘sudden’ as they seem. Indeed, current info suggests Gibson WILL feature in at least some of the second season eps.
Shows like ‘Who’ have tons of fans, but there is a toxic, loud sub-section who will proclaim everything is a conspiracy, affront or the end of all things when *anything* changes…
Bear in mind this is the Daily Mail, a newspaper so well known for its false reporting that Wikipedia won’t allow it as a source.
The fact she’s leaving seems to be true, but the “dropping” may not be. They like to sensationalise and they particularly like to act misogynistic so if they can find some way of drumming up something against a successful woman they will.
I feel like this article has a somewhat misleading implication that the actress/character were hastily written out of the story.
In the show, companions come and go frequently – some last several years, but others don’t. The interesting news here isn’t that Millie Gibson is leaving, but that her successor will be Varada Sethu.
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Aaaaaaaaand the racists have arrived.
How did you get 8 thumbs down for saying that? Sheesh!
Is it possible to have a companion regenerate? Recast the role and keep the character for once. I don’t want to lose Ruby that fast!
Romana
But she was also a Time Lord and as far as we know, Ruby isn’t.
I’m all for diversity. But this is ridiculous.
“I’m all for diversity BUT…”
.
Sure you are.
Logan likes raisins in his potato salad.
Okay, I’ll bite. Why do you think it’s ridiculous?
Tell us you’re a racist without actually saying “I’m a racist.”
Never seen the show huh? The show was always diverse. Lol! It’s ridiculous to have so many Caucasians in Doctor Who. Not realistic. And also would be amazingly boring.
My issue is more with the unrealistic representation of lgbtq. I think they definitely should be represented, prominently, but like 3% of society falls into that category.
And what percentage of the population are aliens?
You’d be surprised.
What does this have to do with lgbtq? There’s only been 2 gay companions out of 42
2 out of 42 is 4.8% which is probably about right. The poster above said 3% of society falls in this category, and a quick Google search suggests the number for the UK (which produces the series) is 3.2%
I’d kind of fallen off of Doctor Who but I did check out the specials. I liked Ruby. It was the first intro to a new companion that clicked for me in a long while.
I suspect she’ll be back by the end of the upcoming season.
She is in the upcoming season from start to finish, the season after that (Ncuti Gatwa’s second) is when she’s leaving, and she won’t even be gone right away, we know she did some filming for season 2.
Doing one season and then some extra episodes is common for Doctor Who, there’s nothing unusual about her leaving, it just appears sudden because they are filming so much in advance and she has only appeared in one episode so far.
Millie Gibson should audition for ‘Supergirl’.
You realise this happens all the time in Doctor Who right? Two seasons is pretty much the max over 60 years of the stuff.
I suspect Rose would have been a one season companion if Christopher Eccleston had not decided to leave after one season. They would not have wanted to start with a completely new cast after one season. All of David Tennant’s companions were with him for one season including Rose. It was not until Matt Smith was the Doctor that companions in the new era stayed with the Doctor longer than a season. Of course they make fewer episodes per season now . We should wait until we see the episodes to see Millie Gibson more on the show before passing judgement about why she left.
Exactly this! ^^
I would like to see Rose Noble as the new companion.
I wish I could watch it but because I can’t afford Disney with all my other streaming services that I do watch constantly. It doesn’t make sense for just 1 show.
I think Ncuti Gatwa is going to be a great Doctor.. I’m just really irritated about having to subscribe to Disney+ to watch. I did December. But on the last one when Jabba the Hutt was the villain I just shook my head and said That’s It.
If its Disney, then its diversity… until proven otherwise!
If it makes you feel better you can go back to literally every other season of the show which had predominantly or entirely white casts.
all i hear is ‘blah blah blah blah’
I have no trust in The Daily Mail. They’re like the US National Enquirer, they hit on a real story once in a blue moon, so…it could be as simple as the reason why Jodie
Whittaker left, the filming for Dr. Who is so intense/time consuming, it leaves little room for other projects. Maybe an offer came in she couldn’t refuse.
The UK tabloids actually have a pretty high hit rate when it comes to breaking DW news. (They’re also more like an aggressive version of the NY Post than the National Enquirer.) You will also note the complete lack of denial from the BBC…
This is all poor wording. It is not uncommon in the RTD era that a companion was around for a full season before departing and it was all planned that way. It is a shame when they do that but I do not think it has anything to do with the actor at all. I do no think they have ever filmed 2 series so close together, and as soon as they have to film on location people start to notice any changes, so they leaked early. In past we would have been in the middle of, or even done with the current series before the next starts filming
So, unconfirmed speculation, is that Ruby Sunday has a specific storyline akin to Bill Potts. (Ruby and the Doctor finding her parents being the obvious plot line.) Once that story is completed, the character will be leaving.
Interesting
What bugs me is why would they even release this information. I am so so done with them spoiling this show. Why not wait till AFTER its aired, like they spoiled the whole Tennant and Tate reveal and now this. I want to be surprised, now i will be speculating what happens all season.
It’s terrible that the word came out before season 1/series14 airs. It reeks of the notification that Christopher Eccleston was leaving before series 1 aired. Folks, it’s not unusual for a companion to stay more than one series/season. Rose, Amy and Clara were exceptions, as were Jodie’s “fam”.
However, timing is everything, and this was bad timing. Varada Sethu was seen on location shooting, so the story was leaked. Producers aren’t going to comment because they’re looking towards the coming season.
Not a precedent. Some past companions have only been on one season. Recently, companions Martha Jones, Donna Noble (twice now), Bill Potts, Dan Lewis. No big whoop.
suppose she was fired because she is white