Doctor Who star Millie Gibson has reportedly lost her role as Ruby Sunday on the BBC sci-fi show after just one season, with Andor actor Varada Sethu drafted in to take over as the Time Lord's companion.
Variety has confirmed that Gibson's time in the TARDIS is almost up, despite only making her debut on Doctor Who in December's Christmas special ahead of a recurring role in the next batch of episodes. The report notes that "Varada Sethu will star opposite Ncuti Gatwa as the Doctor's companion in the 15th season of the show."
Sethu has previously appeared in the Star Wars spin-off Andor, portraying rebel Cinta Kaz, and most recently in Mrs Sidhu Investigates as Rani Toor. She played Shira in the 2022 film Jurassic World Dominion and featured in the 2016 movie Now You See Me 2 as the assistant to Michael Caine's character, Arthur Tressler.
Before Sethu takes up her new role on Doctor Who alongside Gatwa, Gibson will have her time as Ruby Sunday tied up. Her character will appear throughout the 14th season (which airs in May on the BBC in the UK and Disney+ internationally), plus three episodes of the 15th season, per The Mirror, who first reported the news.
The show's latest Christmas special, "The Church on Ruby Road," saw the 15th Doctor take center stage, with Ruby as his sidekick. Gatwa told IGN that Gibson gave a multi-faceted performance as the charming and optimistic adoptee during a test scene they had together, sparring embers for Russell T Davies' future scripts.
"She just came in, and she had such a humor to the lines," he recalled. "She had a quickness and a lightness and a humor to them, but then… just turned it on its head and got really emotional, and I was like, 'Oh, that's really interesting.'"
Doctor Who returns this year, but if you want to embark on some timey-wimey adventures before then, "The Complete New Who Years" limited edition Blu-ray collection can still be purchased from Amazon.
Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on X @AdeleAnkers.
