The Doctor is (back) in, almost.
Doctor Who will be returning for season 2 (aka the second season of Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor) on April 12. Like the past Gatwa seasons and specials, the show will premiere around the world at the same time, streaming on Disney Plus in the U.S. at the same time it drops in the U.K. on BBC.
The new season will be bringing some new faces along for a ride in the TARDIS: Andor’s Varada Sethu will be joining as Belinda Chandra, a new companion. As was reported at San Diego Comic-con, this isn’t a replacement of Millie Gibson’s Ruby Sunday (she’ll also be returning for season 2). “We see The Doctor and Ruby in a new light, and with a new friend,” showrunner Russell T Davies told Comic-Con about Sethu’s character. “Like you’re saying, different friends bring out different aspects of you.”
And speaking of different aspects, Doctor Who will be pulling out a major player in a new way. Alan Cumming — the myth and legend currently hosting The Traitors on Peacock — will be making an appearance in season 2 as well. We last saw him on Doctor Who in 2018, playing King James I in “The Witchfinders.” This time, he will be the animated Mr Ring-a-ding. Per the announcement, the “happy, funny, singalong cartoon” was living contentedly with pal Sunshine Sally in Sunny Town until he finally “looks beyond the screen and sees the real world outside.”
If that sounds like it might cause trouble, you’re dead on! In fact, Davies said in a statement that’s why they hired him: “Only Alan Cumming could give a runaway cartoon so much wit, malice, danger and fun. He makes the whole universe of Doctor Who wilder and madder than ever, and it’s an absolute honour to welcome him on board the TARDIS.”
That sort of vaguely ominous weirdness is the stuff great Doctor Who episodes are made of! Of course, beyond just the promise of Mr Ring-a-ding, there’s also the business of what the Doctor and Belinda are in for — namely: They meet, and begin “an epic quest to get her back to Earth. But a mysterious force is stopping their return and the time-traveling TARDIS team must face great dangers, bigger enemies and wider terrors than ever before.”
Doctor Who will drop on Disney Plus at 3 a.m. EDT on April 12. The eight-episode season will premiere weekly, with new episodes coming every Saturday.
The post Doctor Who returns in April with an Alan Cumming-voiced runaway cartoon appeared first on Polygon.
