The first trailer for Doctor Who’s new season introduces a new companion for Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor, with Varada Sethu (Andor, Jurassic World Dominion) in the role of Belinda Chandra, quipping that if he’s the Doctor, then that makes her “the Nurse.”
Now, the rest of the trailer is light on Chandra’s backstory, so it’s possible she’s having a bit of a joke about yet-to-be-revealed circumstances, but it wouldn’t be the first time that Doctor Who, or even Russell T Davies, played with the irony of the Doctor having an actual medical professional for a companion. The one other thing about Chandra that the footage does reveal is also pretty tantalizing.
“There is something already connecting us,” Gatwa’s doctor says in the trailer, as footage reminds us of Sethu’s role as the futuristic Anglican Marine Mundy Flynn, in last season’s episode “Boom.” It seems there’s some kind of time-crossing link between Mundy Flynn and Belinda Chandra — it wasn’t just a random guest appearance, but something fishy at work in the universe.
The rest of the new trailer is a tour of exciting sights in the Whovian tradition: giant spiders and skeletons; sci-fi vistas of all sorts; Millie Gibson reprising her role as last season’s companion, Ruby Sunday; and even some kind of interstellar Eurovision competition.
Doctor Who’s new season is either the second (since the international broadcasting rights were acquired by Disney Plus), the 15th (since the show was revived in 2005) or 41st (since the show began in 1963) season of the series, depending on how you’re counting. It premieres on April 12, with eight episodes debuting weekly.
