‘Doctor Who’: Ncuti Gatwa & Millie Gibson Tease New Villains and ‘Dark’ Episode for Ruby
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The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Ruby (Millie Gibson) have officially set off in the TARDIS after the Doctor Who Christmas special, and in addition to the mystery of her parents, they’re heading into a new season with a few lingering foes out there that could become a concern.
After all, the 60th anniversary specials featured a warning from The Meep about the “boss,” there’s the one the Toymaker (Neil Patrick Harris) wouldn’t face, the Toymaker’s legions, and whoever picked up the tooth with The Master inside. Is that on The Doctor’s mind, or is he just moving from adventure to adventure and whenever something pops up, he’ll worry about it?
“Bits of both,” Gatwa tells TV Insider. “That’s the magic of the show, is that there are standalone episodes and always an overriding arc to the whole season that each little episode, it’s like Lego pieces. They’re slowly building up towards that.”
And so while yes, you should keep those ominous warnings in mind for what they may or may not tie into, “what’s exciting about this season is just the plethora of new villains that are coming in that [showrunner] Russell [T Davies] is introducing, a whole new pantheon of villains [The Doctor] has never faced before. … It’s always been the case in Doctor Who, but it’s like the meeting of fantasy and sci-fi, and Russell is really is bringing in new lore, bringing in new mythology, new ways of doing things that’s really exciting.”
One such new villain appears in the first episode Gibson filmed (the Christmas special was the second), which she calls one of her favorites. “You’ll see why” the Christmas episode “was a lot more fun” for her, she teases. “It was Christmas. It was just insane, festive, fun, [and there was] laughter. The episode [I filmed] before that was a little bit more dark and intense.”
But whatever The Doctor and Ruby will be facing, they’ll do so together now that she’s stepped foot on the TARDIS. “Their personalities when they get into a crisis is just so funny,” Gibson says. “It’s genius, the humor in it, if I do say so myself. I love Ruby and The Doctor’s relationship. They’re just bickering. It’s a bit like Donna [Catherine Tate] and The Doctor [David Tennant], that type of platonic love for one another.”
She continues, “I think Ruby lets out a bit more of a human side of The Doctor because he usually tries to conceal it, but she’s very open to talking about things and like his therapy in a way — but he’s like hers as well. I think their bond along the way grows very rapidly. Even in the Christmas episode, you can see how much they care about each other already because they just connect over being abandoned, which has never happened before with a companion and Doctor relationship either.”
Expect “cooler” and “more dangerous” adventures across time and space moving forward, and Ruby will face them just like she did the goblin who took the baby Clara (Michelle Greenidge), who’d adopted her, was fostering in “The Church on Ruby Road.” According to Gibson, “the purity with her is so special and on her mind was just saving the baby no matter what she had to do. … She just wants to help people, and she just cares about people, and she has such a special soul for that.”
She just took off with the right person for just that.
Doctor Who, New Season, 2024, Disney+
