BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET)-- Those who tuned in to see the opening episode of the second season of “Doctor Who” on Disney+ saw that the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) has a new traveling companion. That’s not new as the change of actors playing the time-traveling hero and his sidekick have constantly ch anged during the massively long run of the show. Following Millie Gibson’s debut in season one as Ruby Sunday is Varada Sethu who will play Belinda Chandra, a component member of the medical world who gets pulled into a new world. Unlike past companions for the Doctor, Belinda is not excited by the prospect of bouncing around in space and time. She would prefer to go home but a mysterious force is stopping their return, and the time-traveling TARDIS team must face great dangers, bigger enemies and wilder terrors than ever before. Sethu is happy that she gets to portray a traveling companion who is very confident with who she is and where she belongs in the universe. Erik Estrada uses fame to do ‘Divine’ work “What I love the most about Belinda is that she has her own sense of self,” Sethu says. “She is able to see through all of the smoke and mirrors with the Doctor and is not interested in this world. “She very much has her own life and has found her purpose in her own life. She knows where she wants to go. Her job lends itself a lot to her strength. She has an innate sense of right and wrong.” The fact her character is a nurse lets Sethu know that she is taking on the role of a person who has deep compassion for others and a commitment to helping. All of this has to be done in the high-stakes world of emergency medicine. Chandra doesn’t immediately recognize that the Doctor is in need of help, but it is an element that will unfold with each episode. All she knows is that this energetic man has the potential to be very dangerous and that makes her more cautious than past companions. Never miss a story: Make KGET.com your homepage “He might be all-powerful and amazing and amazing. She can hold space for that but also say no you also have these qualities that I’m not on board with and I want to go home,” Sethu says. One of the key elements of “Doctor Who” is the transformation of one actor playing the Doctor to another. Ncuti Gatwa is the Fifteenth Doctor and has been the case with past versions of the Doctor, he may seem completely together but there are some underlying issues with him. Gatwa cannot remember a moment during the filming of the first season that he felt completely confident playing the role. He did feel far more confident starting the second season than he did when he first stepped into the role. “The first one was so exciting and such a ride. It was such a roller coaster,” Gatwa says. “Thankfully I had a little time off between shooting the first season and the second one. “I wanted to take some time and sort of process what that all meant on and off screen. I was so excited to come back to the second season having the Doctor more settled in my skin. And to explore where we were going this season.” One of the reasons Gatwa was so worried about taking on the role of the Doctor comes from the long history of the series. Because the BBC launched the series in 1963, there are generations of fans who have watched new actors play the Doctor. They have also seen a stream of performers taken on the role of traveling companion. The companion is not meant to be just a tool for scenes needing exposition, but series writer and executive producer Russell T Davies has always seen the Doctor’s companion as being a very important part of the story. They have been a friend, partner, confidant and caretaker for the Doctor through the passing years. The challenge of taking on that role falls to Sethu who made her screen debut in 2010 with the short film “Impressions.” A year later she played the role of Kiran in the cult gang noir film “Sket” with Adelayo Adedayo and Ashley Walters. In 2022, Sethu played the role of Shira in “Jurassic World Dominion.” Sethu will soon be seen reprising her role of Cinta Kaz in the second season of the Emmy Award-nominated Lucasfilm series on Disney+ “Andor.” She stars opposite Diego Luna, Stellan Skarsgård, Andy Serkis, Fiona Shaw and Genevieve O’Reilly. Working on “Andor” and “Strike Back” prepared Sethu for the challenges of “Doctor Who.” “They both built up my stamina,” Sethu says. “What ‘Andor' did was break the initial anxiety I have had about entering a universe that has such a huge following. I didn’t have that so much coming into ‘Doctor Who’ because I have already broken the seal on that.” New episodes of "Doctor Who" are available each Saturday on the streaming service. ...read more read less