After visitor starring within the third episode of Ncuti Gatwa‘s inaugural season of “Physician Who,” Varada Sethu believed her time on the enduring British sci-fi collection was over.
“I left and I simply thought, ‘Nicely, it’s a disgrace that door’s closed now,’” Sethu remembers to Selection over Zoom alongside Gatwa. Little did she know she’d be again on the present’s Cardiff set shortly — and never as her Season 1 character Mundy Flynn, however the Physician’s new companion Belinda Chandra.
“She simply blew me away,” Gatwa says of Sethu, who has additionally held roles in Disney+’s “Star Wars” collection “Andor” and 2022 blockbuster “Jurassic World Dominion.” As Whovians will see in her debut episode, her Belinda is a distinct form of companion — as a substitute of fortunately coming alongside for a spin within the Tardis, her precedence is to get residence to her job as an emergency room nurse.
“What [showrunner and writer Russell T Davies was] in search of in Belinda is somebody who’s the Physician’s equal and who can match him, match his power, go up in opposition to him, isn’t afraid to confront him if he crosses a boundary,” Sethu says. “So I feel issues simply fell into place for that.”
After Belinda initially meets the Physician in Season 2’s first episode — premiering on Saturday on the U.Okay.’s BBC One and BBC iPlayer and Disney+ elsewhere — they encounter a problem within the Tardis that forestalls her from going residence and as a substitute takes them on adventures throughout time and house. Upcoming storylines embody a cartoon-style episode starring Alan Cumming, a Eurovision-inspired cease on the Interstellar Track Contest with Graham Norton and the Physician’s first-ever journey to Africa. Plus, Millie Gibson is again as companion Ruby Sunday, although she doesn’t make an look within the premiere.
Under, Gatwa and Sethu focus on the connection between the Physician and Belinda, tease upcoming episodes and tackle rumors about the way forward for the present.
Ncuti, how does it really feel to be again in your second season because the Physician?
Ncuti Gatwa: It seems like returning residence. The character feels much more comfy in my pores and skin now; I used to be simply chomping on the bit to get again into these footwear. I used to be excited to see the place he was going to go this season and the way he was going to develop and what challenges he was going to be up in opposition to. However actually, actually excited as a result of I felt extra settled. The primary time round it feels barely manic, however you undergo that and now I really feel much more settled and comfy in it.
Varada, what was it wish to get the decision that you simply’d be becoming a member of “Physician Who” as a companion?
Varada Sethu: I couldn’t imagine that I obtained to come back again. I used to be within the earlier season in an episode, “Increase,” and it simply felt like residence. I felt like I used to be a part of the household, it felt so pure and like a beautiful little nest. After which I left and I simply thought, “Nicely, it’s a disgrace that door’s closed now.”
NG: It was unhappy!
VS: So after I obtained the decision to say that I get to come back again for a extra everlasting foundation, I actually couldn’t imagine it. I used to be so excited to have the ability to work with you and Millie and the crew. It was one of the best 12 months ever.
NG: She simply blew me away.
What do you suppose makes your characters work collectively so properly?
VS: I feel it’s as a result of we simply obtained on so properly. Russell mentioned within the assembly that it was so nice to see the display screen chemistry. What they have been in search of in Belinda as a personality is somebody who’s the Physician’s equal and who can match him, match his power, go up in opposition to him, isn’t afraid to confront him if he crosses a boundary. And Mundy Flynn is that from the second that she meets him. So I feel issues simply fell into place for that.
Varada, how did you develop the character of Belinda? Is she just like you in any approach?
VS: Russell wrote it and he’s simply so supportive and concerned and has a imaginative and prescient, so he was positively there to information me after I wanted it. When it got here to growing the character, I simply threw myself into it. There’s a lot of me in Belinda as a result of I simply didn’t have the time. I obtained it, and inside a few weeks I used to be on set. So it needed to simply be me — I needed to fill within the gaps.
NG: That’s a fast turnaround.
VS: It’s the character I really feel probably the most weak about as a result of it’s the closest factor to me. However I feel I obtained a way for who she is and what she’s like because the season went on. However definitely within the first episode, plenty of the confusion and concern is actual. It was simply being thrown into it. I feel I’m a caring individual and Belinda’s a caring individual, I feel I’m additionally not afraid to carry individuals accountable.
NG: Sturdy, unbiased. She’s too humble to say it.
Varada Sethu in Season 2 of BBC/Disney+’s “Physician Who.”
What was it like attending to know one another higher on set? Do you’ve got any favourite recollections?
VS: It got here very naturally. Even from the primary day, I arrange camp in his and Millie’s tent to speak to them and hang around with them. Like, I didn’t go to my very own inexperienced room.
NG: For me, I’ll all the time love that morning once we have been simply watching “Scooby-Doo” as severe character analysis for the animation in Episode 2, as a result of it’s a Hanna Barbera-style cartoon. We didn’t know what that was and Googled it and simply sat and watched “Scooby-Doo” once we have been crafting these characters.
VS: We’re simply children.
NG: But additionally, we’re figuring issues out collectively. Like daily, we’ve to determine how one can get via the insanity that’s “Physician Who.” The enjoyment — absolute pleasure — however it’s a loopy present so that you’re like, “How will we determine this out?” And the Physician and Belinda are additionally going via this journey of, “How will we determine the craziness of the universe out?” I really feel like that first episode is so sensible in establishing them, as a result of the accountability in Belinda’s life and the extent of crises and insanity — the Physician has to take a seat down. You actually virtually push him apart at one level to go and assist the sufferers. You don’t want something from him.
Ncuti, how did you need your model of the Physician to evolve going into this season? We see within the first episode that he nonetheless wears his coronary heart on his sleeve.
NG: He positively nonetheless wears his coronary heart on his sleeve. The Physician’s been wandering the universe for 1000’s and 1000’s of years and has suffered plenty of tragedy. And I simply suppose this iteration isn’t afraid to — it sits in him, the disgrace of getting misplaced individuals, the trauma of getting escaped a genocide and he’s the final of his sort. There’s plenty of darkness, I suppose, that follows the Physician round. And this iteration feels free to launch that. He has two hearts, so I feel that he feels issues very deeply. By way of this season and the emotional arc, Belinda actually challenges him to look introspectively and to kind of analyze his interpersonal relationships and actually helps him develop. They develop collectively, but additionally Belinda’s actually challenged him to develop individually. To me, it seems like their relationship is the story this season.
We all know Millie Gibson can be returning as Ruby Sunday. What are you able to tease about her position this season? How do you all work collectively as a trio?
VS: You may need to look at it. She’s a part of the crew.
NG: Ruby’s not gone wherever. In any respect. It’s positively a Tardis crew. We take down the large bads collectively, all of us. That’s all we are able to say.
Varada Sethu and Ncuti Gatwa in Season 2 of BBC/Disney+’s “Physician Who.”
What are a few of your favourite episodes nonetheless to come back? What are you able to tease about them?
NG: I imply, [Episode 2] was mad. We have been performing with a three-foot cardboard cutout and it saved falling over.
VS: Oh my God. The arm would break.
NG: However then AD would click on on a sound recording and popping out of it, booming, could be Alan Cummings’ unimaginable efficiency. It was terrifying. That episode — they do not know how they’re going to defeat a cartoon. How do you do this? And our costumes have been very thrilling — [costume designer] Pam Downe is again on the helm and he or she’s unimaginable. I’m excited for individuals to see Episode 5, the Physician goes to Nigeria and the Tardis has by no means been to Africa earlier than. The Physician wished to go there as a result of he feels the most secure there, this iteration, which I discovered very fascinating as a result of he’s an alien and that is the primary time he’s began — I suppose to get handled like an alien. So yeah, he goes there to be secure after which chaos ensues.
VS: I cherished “Interstellar Track Contest” a lot. It had Rylan who’s sensible, so humorous. It’s simply such a spectacle, there’s so many components to it. Loopy performances, loopy alien costumes. That was an episode the place, in the event you’re going into the catering tent at breakfast you’d simply see parrot individuals strolling by. It’s obtained such a terrific humorousness, but additionally darkish themes and a few reveals.
The rumor mill has been swirling about whether or not there will probably be a Season 3, since solely two seasons have been ordered. What are you able to say about that? Would you come?
NG: Did you hear the checklist of issues that I simply reeled off? My head is just stuffed with Season 2, as a result of it’s been so epic. It’s very ironic that in a present about time journey you’ll be able to’t speak in regards to the future, however I can discuss Season 2 and the way sensible it’s and the way sensible Varada is.
This interview has been edited and condensed for readability.
