Ncuti Gatwa's Doctor Who is already swapping out companions, apparently

Millie Gibson is reportedly out, and Varada Sethu in, once Gatwa wraps up his first season as the Doctor

By William Hughes | January 20, 2024 | 10:50pm

Aux News Doctor Who

Ncuti Gatwa's Doctor Who is already swapping out companions, apparently

Left: Millie Gibson (Photo: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images), Right: Varada Sethu (Photo: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

Things are moving fast over in the world of Doctor Who these days, with reports emerging today that returning series showrunner Russell T. Davies—the man who, once upon a time, brought us the rare single-season Doctor in the form of Christopher Eccleston’s turn on the revived sci-fi series—has cast Varada Sethu as the new companion of Ncuti Gatwa’s 15th Doctor. And while all of this is still popping up in a somewhat murky rumor space, with all reporting from the Daily Mirror and credited to unnamed sources, it also sounds like Sethu will be coming in, not in addition to Millie Gibson, who debuted as the Doctor’s latest companion less than a month ago, but as her replacement, as soon as the show’s yet-to-be-released latest season has aired.

The reports strongly suggest that Gibson’s tenure on the series will be a one-and-done thing, a fate that’s befallen something like half of the show’s “main” companions throughout the revived series’ run. (For every Billie Piper, who survived Eccleston’s tenure to have a vastly different vibe with David Tennant in the following season, there’s a Freema Agyeman or Pearl Mackie, out after a single year—and while we’re being pedantic, you can also toss Catherine Tate into that one-run pile, although she got a sort of second-chance stint with Tennant in late 2023.) It’s somewhat surprising, given that Gibson got such an enthusiastic launch into the series with its recent Christmas special, but such is life in Doctor Who—the franchise where no actor is ever truly safe.