Doctor Who, by its very nature, is always evolving. It’s what has allowed the series to survive for over 60 years of stories across its classic and revived eras. But part of that evolution is also seeing what trends the show has explored in some ways before make a return. For the first time in a long while, Doctor Who‘s latest team-up is one that the show hasn’t explored in quite some time, especially not in its modern age: a companion who wants nothing more than to get back home, away from all these adventures in time and space.
That person is Belinda Chandra, played by Andor‘s Varada Sethu. She’s a young nurse who finds herself whisked up into the Doctor’s life only to find it very difficult for her to extricate herself from it in time for her next shift at work. “Belinda understands the responsibility and, in some ways, the loss that enables her to not be whiled or charmed by this creature,” Ncuti Gatwa recently told io9 over Zoom of the changed dynamic between the Doctor and his latest ally. “The Doctor’s craving connection. Belinda wants to get home, he wants to get home. The challenge to him is in terms of how charged [their relationship] is.”
“I think what I loved about their relationship was that they’re very much equals,” Sethu added. “They both have main character energy—Belinda has her own life, that she’s so desperate to get back to. She has her own purpose, her own set of values, which eventually she discovers do align with the Doctor’s.” But for as similar as those values are, according to Sethu, they will take at least a little bit of time to align.
“They’re both very selfless. They’re both very protective, of each other and the people that they care about and love—their core value is one that comes from a place of love,” Sethu continued. “But it takes a while for her to warm up to him, because she’s not impressed by this.. I mean, I guess she’s impressed, she’s very impressed. But she just wants to go back to her life, because she knows that where she belongs.”
“What I love is that she will give it back to him,” Sethu teased. “They’re equals.”
© BBC/DisneyFor as different a dynamic Belinda might have with the Doctor compared to the likes of Ruby or his other recent companions, Belinda isn’t perhaps quite so standoffish as Sethu’s other famous sci-fi character, the steely guerrilla Cinta Kaz in Andor. Sethu is set to return for Star Wars series’ sophomore final season this month, briefly running concurrently alongside Belinda’s debut in Doctor Who.
But for the actress, that’s part of Doctor Who‘s appeal. “I think a big part of [what drew me to Belinda] was that she was so different,” Sethu reflected. “She’s so different from Cinta, she’s so warm in comparison. I love so much within the sci-fi space—excuse the pun—of Doctor Who you still get to experience so many other genres. There’s comedy, there’s horror, thrillers, all sorts of plots and genres.”
“What I love about Doctor Who is that each episode is so different, each season is different. I like that you get to experience so many different dimensions through one character. That’s what really appealed to me about Belinda, and Doctor Who as a whole.”
So Belinda may not be robbing any Imperial bases of their payrolls in Doctor Who‘s galaxy, but she does represent a challenging element to the Doctor’s life. But it’s not just Belinda challenging the Doctor this season, however—in many ways, the Doctor is also challenging himself, after the dual losses of both Ruby in the climax of last year’s season, and then Joy in the 2024 Christmas Special. “I think he’s in a place where he’s searching for connection and he’s constantly curious,” Gatwa said. “The Doctor embodies curiosity a lot, so he’s searching for something—the Doctor’s always been searching. And he meets Belinda and sort of, instantly… oversteps boundaries? She stands up to him. And I think she just teaches him so much about himself, and I think actually teaches him a lot about responsibility in a way that he hasn’t thought about it before.”
“The Doctor’s able to live quite an irresponsible life. He’s got a spaceship and can go anywhere, he can do whatever he wants,” Gatwa continued.
“He endangers people all the time!” Sethu interjected.
“Like, each episode you’ve almost died!” Gatwa laughed. “Each episode. I think it’s just that [with Belinda]… I wanted to continue on a trajectory of exploring the Doctor’s compassion and his curiosity, and just how his interpersonal relationships develop with other people, because they’ve always been quite skewed. And if companions die, or he loses them or he leaves them, he’s become emotionally distant with them.”
We’ll get to see just how much Doctor Who‘s vibe has shifted with its new dynamic when the series returns to Disney+ around the world, and the BBC in the UK, on Saturday, April 12.
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