Varada Sethu makes her first appearance as the Doctor’s new companion, Belinda Chandra, in a teaser trailer for Series 15 of Doctor Who. Sethu previously portrayed Mundy Flynn in Series 14. Notably, Series 15 is also known as Season 2 in the promotional materials due to the production changes, and the fact that Disney+ now has international broadcasting rights to the show.
Varada Sethu debuts as Belinda Chandra in a new Doctor Who Season 2 teaser
The new teaser for Doctor Who Series 15 or Season 2 features, among other characters, Varada Sethu’s Belinda Chandra, the newest companion of Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor. The teaser shows Belinda interacting with the Doctor and asking him to get her home.
The teaser trailer premiered following the conclusion of Doctor Who’s 2024 Christmas Special, titled Joy to the World.
Sethu’s casting as Belinda was originally announced in January 2024. Various outlets at the time reported that Sethu would replace Millie Gibson’s Ruby Sunday as the Doctor’s new companion. But, it was later revealed that these characters would appear together in Series 15. Indeed, both Sethu and Gibson appear in the teaser trailer alongside Gatwa. The name of Sethu’s character was disclosed at the San Diego Comic-Con in July 2024.
Mundy Flynn, the previous character Sethu played in Doctor Who, appears in the episode “Boom” (Series 14 Episode 3). She is an Anglican marine who the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby encounter in the year 5087. Showrunner Russell T. Davies confirmed to SFX magazine that Sethu would not reprise Mundy, before explaining how she landed the role of a companion.
“It’s one of those very simple situations, like with Freema [Agyeman, who played Adeola Oshodi in Army Of Ghosts before portraying Martha Jones]: when you cast a great actor, you need a new companion,” Davies said. “I was watching, like, the 15th edit of Boom, loving her. Every time I watch her, I think, ‘God, she’s brilliant.’ I literally think she’s brilliant. I used to watch her thinking, ‘God, what a shame we can’t work with her again,” he added. (via Collider)
Notably, Sethu’s acting credits include Now You See Me 2, Annika, and Andor. Doctor Who Series 15 premieres on BBC One and Disney+ sometime in 2025.
Originally reported by Tamal Kundu on ComingSoon.
