Archie Panjabi to Play 'Doctor Who' Villain In Ncuti Gatwa's Second Season in the TARDIS
Archie Panjabi in "Hijack" Season 2
(Photo: Apple TV+)
If the latest internet reports are to be believed, former The Good Wife star will be stepping aboard Ncuti Gatwa's second season of Doctor Who. The actress, best known for playing Kalinda Sharma on the critically acclaimed CBS series and allegedly feuding with star Juliana Margulies behind the scenes, is joining the series' cast as a villain.
Though neither the BBC nor Disney+ have confirmed Panjabi's casting, landing the Emmy-winning actress would be quite a coup for the series — and provide a worthy sparring partner for Gatwa's Doctor. Details about her potential role are, predictably, nonexistent, and no one can say with any certainty what sort of character she'll be playing or how many episodes she'll appear in. But her addition is a tempting prospect in many respects.
While Fifteen faced a variety of enemies, both new (Jinxx Monsoon's musical god Maestro) and old (Egyptian death god Sutekh), throughout his first set of adventures in the TARDIS, most of the season's villains were single-episode foes. Gatwa's Doctor deserves the chance to face off with a villain who had the chance of being a more ongoing threat, or at least one with which he was allowed to develop more of a rapport. Though the ongoing mystery of Mrs. Flood's identity is certainly a plot thread that will carry over from last season, she has yet to be established as a true threat (or even an outright enemy) in quite the same way. It'd be nice to see Fifteen get a proper nemesis of his own*!
(*Please don't interpret that comment as an argument for Panjabi to play the Master, as much as I love the character. We can do new things too!)
Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor.
James Pardon/Bad Wolf/BBC Studios
Though filming for the next season of Doctor Who technically wrapped several months ago, showrunner Russell T. Davies is playing things pretty close to the vest about what the new episodes will entail. That's most likely because we have a Christmas special and likely an entire spin-off series to get through first, but after last season's veritable stream of news updates and casting announcements, the silence is...well, it's certainly a change.
While Millie Gibson returns as companion Ruby Sunday, Team TARDIS will be getting a second member with the arrival of Varada Sethu's Belinda Chandra. (Sethu appeared in last season's "Boom" but is returning to the show as a brand new character.) Jonah Hauer-King (World on Fire) will be playing a new young man in Ruby's life, and Anita Dobson is expected to have a more prominent role next season, thanks to the aforementioned Mrs. Flood mystery. But that's all we know. Admittedly, having almost no idea what's coming next is a bit exciting.
Doctor Who will return to our screens this December with a festive special penned by Steven Moffat and guest-starring Bridgerton's Nicola Coughlan as a character named Joy, who he discovers alone on Christmas after some time-travel hijinks. The aptly named "Joy to the World" will also feature the return of classic monsters, the Silurians. (Though the one in the teaser clip from the episode certainly doesn't seem all that threatening.)
"Joy to the World" will air on Wednesday, December 25, 2024, on BBC One, BBC iPlayer in the U.K., and Disney+ everywhere else. The next full season of Doctor Who is expected in 2025.
