The Fifteenth Doctor’s inaugural season hasn’t even premiered on the 2024 TV schedule yet, and we already have news about cast changes coming to Ncuti Gatwa’s second season as The Doctor. Reportedly, Millie Gibson, who plays the time lord’s companion Ruby Sunday, won’t be returning after the upcoming Season 14, and Varada Sethu will take over as companion in Season 15. And I have to say, I’m really confused about this news.
Millie Gibson Is Reportedly Being Replaced By Varada Sethu On Doctor Who
While Ncuti Gatwa, Millie Gibson, and the Season 14 cast of Doctor Who won’t be galavanting across the universe until May, it’s been revealed that the Ruby actress’s time in the TARDIS will be short-lived.
Allegedly, Gibson will be replaced after one season of Doctor Who according to sources who spoke to Variety. She’ll be replaced by Varada Sethu, who is known for her roles in Jurassic World Dominion and Andor.
According to the report, Gibson will play Ruby through Season 14, which will premiere in May, and then Sethu will be The Doctor’s companion in the following season. At the moment, there are no other details surrounding this news, however, a source told Variety that Sethu is currently filming Doctor Who with Gatwa in Wales.
Overall, there’s not a ton of information about Millie Gibson’s reported exit, and we don’t know if Sethu is taking over as Ruby or joining as a totally new companion. Taking that and adding in the fact that we are months away from Season 14’s premiere, I’m feeling very confused.
Why Millie Gibson Leaving Doctor Who After One Season Confuses Me
Typically, a Doctor’s companions stick around. Billie Piper played Rose for two seasons, Karen Gillan was around as Amy for two seasons and change, and Jenna Colman’s Clara went on adventures with the Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors for three seasons.
Historically, most of the modern-era Doctor’s travel pals have stayed on the show for at least two seasons, if not more. If they’re only there for one, it’s because it’s the final season of a given Doctor’s run – for example, fan-favorite companion Donna Noble, played by Catherine Tate, was only in David Tennant’s final season as the Tenth Doctor.
So, you can imagine my shock when I learned that we’d only be getting Ruby Sunday for the Fifteenth Doctor's first season.
On top of all that, we’ve only seen Millie Gibson in one episode of Doctor Who – and as Mick Joest wrote in his takeaways about Ncuti Gatwa’s first episode, Ruby and The Doctor’s chemistry is fantastic. The historic bi-generation just happened, viewers haven’t even really gotten a chance to see the time lord and his companion in action, so why is she already being replaced?
Given the fact that Gibson’s exit has not been officially confirmed, we don’t know why Ruby reportedly won’t be in Season 15. It’s possible that the actress signed a one-season contract, and her character was always going to have a single-season arc. Maybe, she got a new job, and she wasn’t able to return. There’s always the possibility that things weren’t working story-wise, so they decided to hire a new companion. There are a ton of possible reasons why Sethu is allegedly coming in as a new companion, and not knowing the cause has me perplexed.
Personally, I wish we could have seen more of Millie Gibson and Ncuti Gatwa on screen before learning this news about a new companion, whether her reason for leaving is good or bad. It’s odd that it came out months before Doctor Who’s premiere, and I can’t help but wonder why it’s happening.
As we learn more about Gibson’s reported exit from Doctor Who, we’ll be sure to keep you posted. Meanwhile, you can stream her companion’s first adventure with Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor, as well as her upcoming episodes of the beloved sci-fi series, with a Disney+ subscription.
