Latest news with #VaradaSethu
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Wheel of Time's Dónal Finn, Doctor Who's Varada Sethu, 16 Others Board BritBox's Pride & Prejudice Spinoff About Mary Bennet
BritBox and BBC's The Other Bennet Sister — a 10-episode series based on the novel of the same name by Janice Hadlow and focused on Mary (played by Call the Midwife's Ella Bruccoleri), the often-overlooked middle sister in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice — has added to its cast Ruth Jones (Gavin & Stacey) and Richard E. Grant (The Outlaws) as Mary's parents. As for Mary's sisters, Maddie Close, Poppy Gilbert (Stay Close, Chloe), Molly Wright (The A Word) and Grace Hogg-Robinson (Flatmates) will respectively play Jane, Lizzie, Kitty and Lydia. More from TVLine Doctor Who: Varada Sethu Reflects On the End of Her Run, Says 'Mom & Dad Forever' to Ncuti Gatwa Exiting Doctor Who Star Ncuti Gatwa Cheers His Companions, 'Captain Poppy' and Two 'Legends' From Finale Andor Creator Tony Gilroy Shrugs Off That Star Wars 'First' in Episode 6, Stands by 'Tough' Cinta Decision Indira Varma and Richard Coyle will play Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner, Mary's worldly aunt and uncle. They take Mary under their wing as governess to their three children — Marianne (Roisin Bhalla), George (Reggie Absolom) and Rebecca (Jasmine Sharp) — introducing her to an exciting new social world that includes Mr. Hayward (The Wheel of Time's Dónal Finn), Mr. Ryder (Will's Laurie Davidson) and a yet-to-be-cast Ann Clarke. Other familiar Austen characters include Caroline Bingley (played by Sex Education's Tanya Reynolds), Charlotte Lucas (Anna Fenton-Garvey) and Mr. Collins (Brassic's Ryan Sampson). Playing brand-new characters will be Varada Sethu (Doctor Who, Andor) as Ann Baxter, and Aaron Gill as John Sparrow. Production on The Other Bennet Sister is now underway in Wales; a release date or timetable has not yet been announced. The series will stream on BritBox in North America, and on BBC iPlayer and BBC One in the UK. Want scoop on , or for any other TV show? Shoot an email to InsideLine@ and your question may be answered via Matt's Inside Line! Best of TVLine Stars Who Almost Played Other TV Roles — on Grey's Anatomy, NCIS, Lost, Gilmore Girls, Friends and Other Shows TV Stars Almost Cast in Other Roles Fall TV Preview: Who's In? Who's Out? Your Guide to Every Casting Move!
Gizmodo
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
Queerness Wasn't a Consideration in ‘Andor' Season 2's Most Controversial Death
When the heist on Ghorman went wrong on Andor season two, it only took one bad call for tragedy to strike. In the case of rebel leader Cinta Kaz (Varadu Sethu), her life was snuffed out in an instant when a misfire took her down. In a story about the early days of Star Wars Rebels uniting against the Empire, anyone was fair game, and it's something that show creator Tony Gilroy and writer Beau Willimon affirmed in conversation with Vulture, when discussing Cinta's death as one of the franchise's prominent queer characters. Gilroy explained that Cinta's fate was decided on early in the process of scripting Andor season two. 'I pretty much came up with an actuarial table pretty early in the sketching process of season two. There were a couple of actors who did not want to come back and people who were complicated to get back and whatever,' he said. 'I remember calling Varada and saying, 'Hey, I think that we're going to do it this way.' And I think I would really like to have friendly fire. I would like to have the stupidity of accident in the show. I would like to have something really stupid happen. This whole Ghorman thing is such a stupid cock up anyway. And I'm sorry, but you're, you know, you're the roulette. I don't have another piece. I either kill you or Vel and [I] can't kill Faye [Marsay, who played Vel]. And so it's your turn. And I'm not sure if she had Doctor Who at that point or she was in the running, I'm not sure. [But] she wasn't so depressed about it.' When it came to some of the criticisms drawn from the choice to toe the line of falling into the 'bury your gays' trope, Gilroy gave an even-keeled response. 'This fascinates me because you get all this credit and the first season, 'oh my God, you have a natural relationship 'cause, and we were like, 'well, yeah, it's just a relationship.' We're not making a big deal out of it. So then if you don't make a big deal out of it and just treat it like it's a normal thing and kill whoever you wanna kill, then that's a problem all of a sudden.' The choice was aimed at making it feel as real as possible for members of the rebellion, who no matter where they come from all choose to put their lives in the line of fire. 'I would discount the first side if I could get a little bit more on the second. I mean, what more natural way to treat it than to treat it like a real thing? I'm not gonna like start to socially engineer my characters for some chat room.' Willimon interjected, 'Honestly, our mentality was that almost everyone's gonna die. And that's broadcast everywhere in the show, almost every episode, someone's saying like, well, we're never gonna make it, we're never gonna see it.' Every Andor character is aware that they're gambling their mortality for a bigger cause—especially in a series that culminates in the events of Rogue One, where most of the key characters die. 'There needed to be something, something had to go wrong on Ghorman with that heist. We're always thinking about cost.' The importance of Cinta and Vel's relationship was not lost on them. Willimon continued, 'I mean, there is the fact that people did connect emotionally to that relationship. And there's a part of you that goes [its] just pure storyteller catnip.' he reiterated the questions asked in the writing process about losses that would impact the audience the most, 'I mean, we hurt you later with Luthen and Clea, we hurt you with Bix and Cassian–every way that you can feel the pain and the cost of sacrifice, that's what this show is about. And, you know, there were multiple versions of what that heist would be, but the friendly fire thing was quite early on.' The grim reality of Andor is that these are the people in the first wave that pave the way for the rebels we know in the original Star Wars trilogy. Their lives are given more meaning and multitudes, which is what made the show so great through the relationships it built. Willimon understood the emotional one-two punch impact of Cinta's loss shortly after her tender reconciliation with Vel, stating , 'One: you're upset after that beautiful scene that this relationship is not gonna see its way through. Two, you go, 'Damn it, friendly fire? That's the way this badass goes?'' He added more context how even the best laid plans can go awry thanks to ineptitude. 'What does Vel say to the guy who pulled the trigger at the end? 'She was a miracle. You will spend the rest of your life trying to pay for this moment, to earn your keep.' And what you realize is that it is a supremely noble death. If you're not willing to die by friendly fire or get accidentally run over, or [die] in a hail of gunfire in a big battle—they're all equal because really the choice you made from the very beginning is that I'm willing to sacrifice myself, whatever form that takes. And that's the magic trick, which is this shit is gonna happen and you don't know which way you're gonna go. You just know you are gonna go. And that noble decision was made from day one.' Gilroy added, 'But the problem with it is that everybody's going to identify with different people in the show. Everybody in this audience is gonna have their person that they climb in with and maybe it's multiple people, but there's gonna be a lot of people who climb. So if you're queer, you're gonna climb in to this character.' Gilroy pointed out, 'The biggest thing that that does [it] for me is not just the friendly fire or the surprise of it or the tragedy of it, what I really need to do is I'm really driving very much to tell the story of Luthen as a very poor human resources manager. And his failure to recognize the importance of personal relationships and his need to try to break them up is a much larger thing, and a much larger and more important issue to me than whether you think … where is the place where Cinta should die or what, I don't know. So I can't—that's a level of responsibility that comes from abundance, I suppose.'
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
SuperKitties, Little Mermaid and Others Renewed by Disney — Sam Witch Gets Series Order
The SuperKitties have more purrrrfect adventures ahead, it was announced this weekend at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. Disney Jr.'s Spidey and His Amazing Friends — which launches Season 4 on June 16, and was already picked up for Season 5 — has been renewed for a Season 6, Disney Branded Television announced at Annecy. Additionally, SuperKitties has scored a Season 4, while both Disney Jr. Ariel – The Little Mermaid and RoboGobo will get second seasons. More from TVLine New Ironheart Trailer: To Protect People, Wakanda Forever's Riri Williams Must Think 'Outside the Box' Doctor Who: Varada Sethu Reflects On the End of Her Run, Says 'Mom & Dad Forever' to Ncuti Gatwa Save the Dates: Maxton Hall Season 2, Snow White on Disney+ and More On the original shorts front, Disney Jr. Ariel – The Little Mermaid: Songs From the Crystal Cavern and Playdate With Winnie the Pooh scored renewals, while new offerings include Me & Mickey: In the Clubhouse+ (an extension of the Me & Mickey Disney Jr. vlog series) and the holiday sing-alongs Mickey & Minnie's Holiday Songs: Halloween and Mickey & Minnie's Holiday Songs: Christmas. Disney Branded Television also announced green lights for the new Disney Jr. series Sam Witch (ha, it sounds like 'sandwich!'), which follows the adventures of a young girl learning the ins and outs of being a witch, with the support of her family, friends and magical pets, and the 2026 Disney+/Disney Jr. holiday special Dasher, a full-length CG special inspired by the bestselling picture book Dasher: How a Brave Little Doe Changed Christmas Forever (from author and illustrator Matt Tavares). Best of TVLine 'Missing' Shows, Found! Get the Latest on Ahsoka, Monarch, P-Valley, Sugar, Anansi Boys and 25+ Others Yellowjackets Mysteries: An Up-to-Date List of the Series' Biggest Questions (and Answers?) The Emmys' Most Memorable Moments: Laughter, Tears, Historical Wins, 'The Big One' and More
Gizmodo
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
‘Doctor Who' Utterly Wasted Belinda Chandra
Varada Sethu's addition to the TARDIS was a jolt of energy 'Doctor Who' needed—but it bafflingly transformed her into the modern era's most squandered companion. When the latest season of Doctor Who kicked off, the most exciting thing about it wasn't even its premiere story, or what was being set up to lead towards the season's grand finale: it was the arrival of Varada Sethu as Belinda Chandra, promising to shake up the Doctor/companion dynamic in a way it hadn't been in years. But now that the season is over, and Doctor Who lies amid a litany of narrative and production messes lurching towards an uncertain future, one of its biggest of all is just how it completely and utterly wasted Belinda's character. A young nurse balancing the rigorous demands of her career with the sudden tumult of being thrust into a suitably ludicrous Doctor Who narrative—abducted by giant robots and whisked off into space to become a planetary ruler and forcibly thrust into a horrific arranged marriage—Belinda's arrival in 'The Robot Revolution' immediately bucked the trends of most Doctor Who companion debuts, especially in the modern era. After initial moments of fear and hesitation, life in the Doctor's orbit is, more often than not, too mesmerizing to resist: 45 minutes to an hour later everyone from Rose Tyler to Ruby Sunday is ready to step inside the TARDIS, remark on its interior's size, and run straight forward into adventures in time and space. And yet, while Belinda ends up in the blue box just like the rest of them, she challenges the Doctor, both from his own perspective and that of the audience, every step of the way. The Belinda of 'The Robot Revolution' isn't obstinate for the sake of it or anything, but she rightfully pushes the Doctor's assumption that his way, his default of being the person that everyone in the room should listen to unquestionably, isn't the only way. It made for a remarkable chemistry between the Doctor and Belinda, and not just for Ncuti Gatwa and Varada Sethu's own sparkling charisma (the latter certainly cannot be blamed for the narrative choices the show makes with her character), but because you really see them feel out each other over the course of the episode, figuring out where lines are drawn between them—and it's Belinda drawing the lines. The Doctor's charm offensive, which has by and large driven so many of those initial sparks in the companion/Doctor relationship, simply does not work on Belinda. It all culminates in a brilliant final moment in that debut episode to set the tone going forward: calling him out for invading her privacy, for not thinking to ask people consent, for brazenly trying to dazzle her in the same way he'd clearly dazzled many people before her. There is clearly some part of Belinda that likes the Doctor; she's not actively horrified or disdainful of him, but she makes it clear he crosses lines, and the world he operates in (or rather worlds) are dangerous. She wants home, and the only thing that stops that is the fact that they can't get there—the adventures along the way aren't her signing up for this dazzling new life, but a necessity to get what she wants. It's a shame then, that this version of Belinda by and large stops existing halfway through her season of Doctor Who. Of course, she was always going to soften in her appraisal of the Doctor the longer she spent with him, but the show plays an awkward balancing act where both Belinda moves on from this challenging almost inorganically—arguably she is totally fine with traveling with the Doctor by the end of the second episode, 'Lux,' but even after the darkness of 'The Well' an episode later she is truly into the default companion mode—and because the season then also starts suddenly having to balance in dedicating its limited runtime to episodes about Ruby like 'Lucky Day,' or 'The Story and the Engine,' where Belinda is barely part of the narrative. For many of the other thorny narrative issues it has, by the time the season is heading into its endgame in 'The Interstellar Song Contest,' the version of Belinda we get there, where her reaction to the Doctor crossing a distinct moral line in aggressively torturing his 'foe' in Kid, is far from the woman who called him out for scanning her without asking her in 'The Robot Revolution,' willing to effectively rubber-stamp the Doctor's actions as a moment of duress. Which would be disappointing, but fine if Doctor Who replaced that initial skeptical archetype with anything, but instead Belinda is pushed into a void, a generic 'companion.' We don't learn anything about her, really, other than the fact that she wants to get home. But all that is before the real injustice comes in the two-part season finale. In its first part, 'Wish World', Belinda is transformed by the reality imposed by Conrad—the asshole villain weirdo who stalked Ruby in 'Lucky Day'—onto the earth into the Doctor's matronly wife. The reality is presented by the text as aberrant and dystopian, a world where every woman exists to be a good daughter, a good wife to her husband, and then a willing mother dutifully raising the next generation of daughters to follow in that exact same mold. In 'Wish World,' Belinda's one-note definition as mother to her and the Doctor's child, Poppy, is reflective of Conrad's retrograde views about women, filing them down into a single trait that is subservient to a traditionalist, conservative patriarchal power balance. The fact that Belinda, Poppy's mom, is not Belinda, the Doctor's companion that we've followed over the course of this season, is meant to be disturbing, to be something we want her to break free of and recognise the trap she, the Doctor, and the rest of the world in. 'The Reality War' instead decides that reducing Belinda to this singular trait—altered reality or otherwise—is Good, Actually. The second Belinda is freed from Conrad's world, her sole dramatic trait is reminding us that she is Poppy's mother and that that is all that she cares about, regardless of the chaos beginning to unfold around her on the Doctor, to the point that she literally tells him that she can't help him in his fight against the Rani. The episode metaphorically and literally shoves her in a box so Ruby can take on the primary companion role, safeguarding her and Poppy from any reversions to the original reality that might render the latter erased as quickly as she was wished into being. She's only allowed out the box when the day is saved, and again, she reverts to this matriarchal character, both when it initially seems like she, the Doctor, and Poppy might travel together, and then when Poppy vanishes from reality and the Doctor choses to sacrifice his life to bring her back. There is a lot of 'Reality War' that is an absolute mess, but little of it feels quite as insulting as what it does to Belinda's character. Having a character for whom motherhood is important is not the issue here; there is plenty that could've been done with a companion that's a mother (we certainly got a particularly involved version of that with Amy's arc in the Steven Moffat era!). It's that Doctor Who essentially took the Belinda it had—who, by episode count and other narrative decisions, had already been losing her sense of an arc—wiped her clean, and then metaphorically stamped 'mom' on her forehead, and left her like that for the episode's final act. An act that is now our farewell to the character, one that even attempts to retroactively 'reveal' that Belinda's arc was always about returning home to Poppy via a series of flashbacks to prior scenes from the season altered to now have Belinda add 'for Poppy' to the end of every mention of her desire to get back to Earth. That's not an actual character arc, or even an interesting recontextualization that reframes what the audience had already seen in new light. It's a literal re-write of what the audience already saw! After telling us the week prior that it was wrong for Conrad to impose, without consent, a patriarchal gender role on Belinda, Doctor Who itself has the Doctor do exactly that to Belinda, re-write all of reality to make her into a single mom. The Belinda Chandra we met in 'The Robot Revolution' doesn't exist any more, not just because the show whittled down her character into nothingness, but because the show concludes her arc by rewriting her existence so that that Belinda never existed in the first place. There's even a dark mirror in the final moments of that arc, when the Doctor does exactly to Poppy what he did to Belinda in the climax of 'The Robot Revolution': medically scan her with his alien technology without a single thought to ask if he was allowed to first. It's just that this time not only does Belinda not challenge him, she doesn't react at all. She is 'just' Poppy's mother now, with no thought or feeling given to her beyond that description. Again, a having a female character to whom being a parent is important is not the issue with what Doctor Who did with Belinda. There were so many ways the series could've given this ending to her storyline and actually organically laid out a path to it across the season. Perhaps have her slowly realize over time that something, someone is missing from her memories of her life on Earth, to struggle with the feeling that she has to get back to Earth as soon as possible while not fully grasping why, to eventually play with the reality manipulation that the finale hangs its dramatic stakes on. Instead, the show started with a completely different idea and dynamic for her—one brimming with potential it almost immediately decided not to capitalize on—before slowly but surely pushing her further and further to the fringes of its priorities over the course of the season. Belinda was never given the chance to grow and change over her time in the TARDIS, to challenge, and to be challenged by, life at the Doctor's side. Her final ending was just the last nail in a coffin Doctor Who had been building for Belinda's character as we'd known her in that first episode for a while, whether that was its narrative intent or otherwise—and ultimately just one extra failure to add to the season's list of many.
The Herald Scotland
01-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Ncuti Gatwa shares emotional post after leaving Doctor Who
In a statement provided by the BBC, the Scottish-Rwandan actor said the "journey has been one that I will never forget". Now, he has shared a social media post thanking co-stars Millie Gibson and Varada Sethu. Gatwa regenerating in his final episode of Doctor Who (Image: BBC Studios/Bad Wolf/PA) Ncuti Gatwa shares emotional post after leaving Doctor Who Gibson played Ruby Sunday and was the main companion in Gatwa's first series as the 15th Doctor. Her character appeared less frequently in the second series, with Varada Sethu's Belinda Chandra taking the mantle as the new companion. Taking to Instagram, Gatwa shared a picture of the trio, and said: "Three queens of the sky, "Twas an experience like no other and thank God we were by eachothers side. "There aren't quite the words for how much you both mean to me but I am so grateful I got the opportunity to work, learn from and laugh with you both everyday. "You're both just simply incredible and it has been nothing short of a blessing to share this journey with both of you. "Ruby Sunday and Belinda Chandra will live in mine and the Whoniverse hearts forever. "Also shout out to the CAPTAIN of all 15's companions. Captain Poppy. Ultimate top dog of this season! (lil Sienna brought so much life and magic to us all on set ) I love you guys. We did it." It was the first of two Instagram posts Gatwa has shared since his exit. The second was a picture of himself in the TARDIS, with the caption: "Monsters, goblins, gods, human-eating Slugs, invisible brain-altering creatures, evil barbers, conspiracy theorists… you've had quite a busy two years. Well done and rest up son. "@bbcdoctorwho @disneydoctorwho @russelltdavies63 @bad_wolf_tv Thank you endlessly. XV." Doctor Who: All Fifteen Doctors in Order In a statement released by the BBC, on his decision to leave, Gatwa said:'You know when you get cast, at some point you are going to have to hand back that sonic screwdriver and it is all going to come to an end, but nothing quite prepares you for it. 'This journey has been one that I will never forget, and a role that will be part of me forever. "There are no words to describe what it feels like to be cast as the Doctor, nor are there words to explain what it feels like to be accepted into this iconic role that has existed for over 60 years and is truly loved by so many across the globe. 'I've loved every minute of it, but now is the time to hand over the keys to that beloved blue box and let someone else take control and enjoy it every bit as much as I have. "I'll truly miss it, and forever be grateful to it, and everyone that has played a part in my journey as the Doctor.' Is Billie Piper the new Doctor on Doctor Who? After Gatwa's exit, the 15th Doctor is seen regenerating into Billie Piper. Piper, 42, first appeared in the series as the companion to the Ninth Doctor in 2005, playing Rose Tyler alongside Christopher Eccleston's Time Lord. She stayed on and was the companion to the 10th Doctor, played by David Tennant. However, despite her introduction on the show, it has not been confirmed she is the 16th Doctor. Some fans are also not convinced, with the end credits reading: "And introducing Billie Piper." Many compared this to when Ncuti Gatwa was introduced as the 15th Doctor, when it read: "And introducing Ncuti Gatwa as The Doctor." Previous actors have also received similar credit introductions. "Ncuti Gatwa as The Doctor" "Jodie Whittaker as The Doctor" "And introducing Billie Piper" ...but NO "as The Doctor" I FIND THAT VERY SUS. — Ben (He/Him) (@BenDW96) May 31, 2025 One said on X (formerly Twitter): "Billie Piper wasn't introduced as the Doctor, and this year was the 20th anniversary of Series 1... There's definitely more to this..." Another said: "She's clearly not the Doctor but some Bad Wolf shenanigans." Fueling speculation on her role in the show, Doctor Who TV simply says: "But just how and why she is back remains to be seen…" Recommended reading: On her return, Piper said: 'It's no secret how much I love this show, and I have always said I would love to return to the Whoniverse as I have some of my best memories there, so to be given the opportunity to step back on that Tardis one more time was just something I couldn't refuse, but who, how, why and when, you'll just have to wait and see.' Shortly after the finale aired, the actress shared a post on Instagram holding a rose with the caption that read: 'A rose is a rose is a rose !!!' If she is confirmed as The Doctor, Piper will be the second after Jody Whittaker's 13th Doctor.
