'Doctor Who's Season 15 Teaser Trailer Introduces Companion Varada Sethu

Our first look at Ncuti Gatwa's second season of Doctor Who is here, and with it, our introduction to the new companion who'll be doing a lot of running alongside him, Varada Sethu (Annika), who will play Belinda Chandra. The teaser was released following the conclusion of the Christmas special "Joy to the World," an hour that encouraged the Doctor to find a new friend to travel with following Ruby Sunday's decision to leave the TARDIS behind. It doesn't take him all that long to keep that promise.

But if this clip is anything to go by, new companion Belinda Chandra seems decidedly unimpressed with the Time Lord. Taking a page from Fifth Doctor companion Tegan Jovanka (Janet Fielding), she demands the Doctor take her home immediately. Unlike Tegan, who was at least at Heathrow as a person who works in the traveling business, it is currently an open question of how the two cross paths in the first place; their journey together will be more challenging than expected.

Sethu already appeared in this era of Doctor Who, playing Anglican soldier Mundy Flynn in the Steven Moffat-penned episode "Boom!" in Gatwa's first season.  Her Season 2 character is brand new and allegedly has no connection to the role she previously portrayed. I'd love to believe that's a fake-out and that there's some larger mystery at work with her character. But playing two different roles isn't as odd as it might seem. After all, Peter Capaldi portrayed two completely different characters within the larger Whoniverse before becoming the Twelfth Doctor.