Doctor Who Stars Praise Premiere's Stealth Take on [Spoiler] Culture, Tease Mystery of ‘Bouncing' TARDIS

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12-04-2025

The following contains spoilers from the April 12 season premiere of , now streaming on Disney+.
Doctor Who with its Season 15 premiere on Disney+ pulled a switcheroo on what appeared to be a tale of a mighty, evil AI — by revealing that the entity lording over the episode's titular 'Robot Revolution' in fact had once been a regular ol' human, albeit one who mentally abused Fifteen's new companion.
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Saturday's season premiere brought back Andor's Varada Sethu, who in last season's 'Boom' guest-starred as Anglican marine Mundy Flynn, this time as Belinda Chandra, an ER nurse from present-day Earth. Mild-mannered Belinda was descended up by robots and dragged by spaceship to Belindachandra-1, a planet that had been named after her, and where she was invited to rule as queen.
Luckily, the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) had been led to Belindachandra-1 six months prior, and in that time established himself as a historian of sorts. The two strangers teamed up to escape this robot-led society, only to wind up face to face with its 'AI GENERATOR' overlord, who aimed to wed Belinda — 'your mind subsumed within mine.'
But when this 'AI' made a quip that gave Belinda a serious case of déjà vu, she and in turn Fifteen came to realize that it in fact was Alan Budd, a boyfriend of hers from 17 years prior. And one who did not treat her well, ergo her rebuffing of his original, long-ago marriage proposal.
'All you ever did was correct me and tut and huff and roll your eyes and tell me off,' Belinda reminded 'AI,' whose signage was now revealed to say 'AL.' She then observed with more than a bit of horror that by leading the robot revolution on Belindachandra-1, 'You've taken coercive control and made it complete control, of the whole planet.'
Or as she put it moments later, 'Planet of the Incels.'
AL, the Doctor deduced (by listening to his every ninth word that the robots couldn't), was privately suffering beneath all of his wiring and mods. 'Help me save me pain' was the message AL slipped through, earning the cyborg a modicum of sympathy.
TVLine spoke with series lead Gatwa and his new leading lady, Sethu, about the season opener's stealthily delivered message.
'We went about it very much knowing that it was a statement on incel culture — but also just that whole condition, the male loneliness epidemic thing that's happening right now,' Sethu shared.
'And to actually come at it from a place of compassion…,' she continued.
'…was very interesting,' added Gatwa, completing his co-star's thought.
In fact, as those who make the show dealt with this problematic topic through the lens of a sci-fi series, 'We had a lot of really great discussions about it on-set as well,' Sethu recalled. Surveying the on-screen outcome, she offered, 'I think it was really well done.'
As it turned out, Belinda was able to ease her ex's pain, because when she touched her copy of the star-naming certificate that Alan gave her in 2007 to his, the paradox, as Fifteen had predicted, caused an explosion. The energy burst obliterated AL (into a sperm and egg that the dutiful cleaner robot swept up), while Fifteen as a Time Lord was able to absorb the part of the blast directed at Belinda.
There is still the matter of where that second copy of the star-naming certificate came from, but Belinda begged off joining the Doctor on that journey. She just wants to go home. But when Fifteen went to return Belinda to her Earth and time, the TARDIS angrily 'bounced' against… something. And no amount of body English from the Doctor, no combination of flipped levers and adjusted knobs, could force the usually reliable time machine to do his bidding.
Will the Doctor and his new, somewhat-begrudging companion set out to investigate this timey-wimey anomaly? Or will out-of-this-world adventures derail their best efforts?
Gatwa and Sethu both let out a hearty laugh before responding in tandem, 'Very good question!'
'That is the goal,' Sethu previewed, 'but 'as happens' with the Doctor, there are side quests. The direction is to get home, that is always is the intention, but….'
'We get curious!' chimed in Gatwa.
Though those aboard the TARDIS are puzzled by this 'bouncing,' those of us watching from at home were made privy to why they cannot reach their destination. Judging by the debris floating through space on the other end — including pieces of the Statue of Liberty and Eiffel Tower — it appears that Earth will go the way of Alderaan in just a few weeks.
Will Belinda and the Doctor gradually pick up on clues to our big green marble's calamitous fate?
In a word, 'Yes,' Sethu answered.
'That's all part of the mystery of why they can't get home to a specific date, which is the 24th of May, 2025,' the actress noted. 'The whole thing is that the Doctor keeps trying to direct [the TARDIS] back to Earth through different angles, and it just keeps bouncing back — and we don't understand why.'
But as the season unfolds, Sethu affirmed, the magnitude of what they are up against, the very source of it, 'is revealed.'Best of TVLine
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