‘Doctor Who’: Ncuti Gatwa & Millie Gibson Talk Powerful Foes & Ruby Mystery (VIDEO)

Meredith Jacobs May 10, 2024, 8:40 pm

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the first two episodes of Doctor Who Season 1, “Space Babies” and “The Devil’s Chord.”]

Really, it only took a couple minutes in his first appearance in the last of the Doctor Who 60th anniversary specials to know that Ncuti Gatwa is the right one to take over the role of the Doctor. He embodies the fun and joy of the character—and, as we see as the new season gets underway, some of the weight and darkness as well.

Gatwa’s Doctor’s introduction came with a twist, with David Tennant’s Fourteenth not regenerating but bigenerating, splitting in two. It was fun, and compared to Fourteen (who was clearly feeling a lot), the Fifteenth Doctor seemed to be doing a lot better. But now, in “The Devil’s Chord,” the Doctor tells the newest companion, Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson), that defeating the Toymaker, which he did via bigeneration, took everything and tore his soul in half and that’s something he can’t survive again. While that sounds like it could mean that bigeneration is a one-time occurrence, showrunner Russell T Davies refuses to “say anything’s impossible ever again.”

But having that moment “was a nice difference because the bigeneration was so joyous that when I was writing that scene, I just thought there’s another side to that, that everything has a cost,” Davies explains to TV Insider. “And so I liked that that line and that it isn’t intended to be particularly significant. I just thought it was a nice extra take on a momentous event in the doctor’s life. It rings true.”

This season, you will see the joy and fun as well as the moments that weigh on him, according to Gatwa. “It is exciting this year because the Doctor is facing things that he has never faced before. He’s facing foes that are more powerful than he’s ever faced before. So that’s very exciting to see the Doctor out of his depth like that,” he shares in the video interview with him and Gibson above. “And that, of course, lends itself to dark, tragic moments. But joy will run through the series absolutely because it runs through the veins of the Doctor and Ruby.”

And while Maestro (Jinkx Monsoon), upon their banishment, warns that “the one who waits is almost here,” referencing a villain previously teased, that’s not necessarily something weighing too much on the Doctor. “He experiences time in his own way and he’s much more involved with living his life day-to-day kind of thing,” says Davies, who notes that it won’t be mentioned every episode. “It’s a very traditional buildup to the Big Bad that a lot of shows do, but we have enormous fun with it. I can promise that. it’s never quite what you expect, I hope. And the resolutions won’t be quite what you’re expecting. So there’s a lot of fun to be had with it.”

There is quite the mystery about Ruby: who her parents are. She was left at a church as a baby, a night that the Doctor has traveled back to, has changed since, and is somehow coming through to their present, with the snow and Maestro hearing a song hidden in her soul. But, as the Doctor stresses, Ruby can never visit that night herself.

“There’s not going to be a Rose Tyler [situation],” says Davies. (He’s talking about a previous Season 1—there are three!—episode with Billie Piper‘s character.) “Rose Tyler famously came aboard the TARDIS, broke all the rules, demanded that they see the day that her father died. I can’t repeat that. So Ruby takes it at face value, but it does turn out to be more complicated and interesting than it looks, our ways around this.”

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But when things like the snow happen, “it’s quite hard for her to ignore the facts,” admits Gibson. “Fate’s teasing her.”

Th mystery about Ruby—”Who are her parents? Who was there on that Christmas Eve?” as Davies points out—runs throughout the season as well as that “one who waits” villain. “It’s a whole convergence of plot lines all coming together beautifully. There’ll be a new little hint every week,” the showrunner shares. “There’ll be a new angle on it every week, slight little fact, but nothing I think that will ever allow you to guess what’s going to happen.”

These first two episodes also reveal that the Doctor is scanning Ruby (we want to see those results!) and has yet to inform her. But the companion wouldn’t see it as a betrayal. “I think she trusts him and she trusts his judgment,” says Gibson. “And to be honest, I feel like Ruby would be like, ‘Yeah, I don’t blame you to be honest. I don’t even know where I am myself, so go crazy. Let’s see the results.'”

Gatwa adds, “The Doctor’s so cautious of time. He knows how delicate [it is] and how much you have to respect it. And so I think there’s probably a lot of things that he doesn’t tell Ruby for fear of overwhelming, of ruining or disrespecting the timeline. But also, is Ruby a foe? We don’t know. We don’t know.”

Watch the full video interview above for much more from Gatwa and Gibson, including filming the finale dance number in the ’60s episode, their favorite performances of each other’s, and the Regency episode with guest star Jonathan Groff.

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