Will Mundy Flynn be the Doctor’s new companion?
BBC/Disney+In Doctor Who Season 14 Episode 3, ‘Boom’, future companion Varada Sethu plays Mundy Flynn. But does this mean Mundy is going to be the Doctor’s new companion in Season 15?
It was announced prior to the release of Doctor Who Season 14 that Andor’s Varada Sethu would be joining as a second companion for the Doctor, and would fight alongside him and Ruby Sunday in Season 15, which is due to air in 2025.
So it came as a surprise when Sethu showed up in ‘Boom’ as Anglican soldier Mundy Flynn, leaving everyone to wonder if the Doctor’s new traveling buddy would be an ex-fighter from the future.
Well, that might not necessarily be the case. Here, we explain whether Mundy could be the new companion for Season 15, and what it means for Varada Sethu.
Will Mundy Flynn be the Doctor’s new companion?
While Varada Sethu will be joining Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson in Doctor Who Season 15 as the Doctor’s new additional companion, it’s not confirmed whether she’ll be playing Mundy Flynn again, or a new character altogether.
The BBC hasn’t revealed any concrete information about the Doctor’s second companion yet, but Sethu’s appearance as Mundy in ‘Boom’ doesn’t necessarily tie her down character-wise.
Doctor Who has recycled actors in the past, and it’s not unusual for returning actors to play different or upgraded roles. (With the exception of the mysterious Susan Twist, whose frequent return in each episode seems incredibly intentional, perhaps with darker intentions.)
Most notably, Freema Agyeman appeared in Season 2 Episode 12, ‘Army of Ghosts’ as Adeola Oshodi, a Torchwood employee who meets her end after being reprogrammed by the Cybermen.
Just a few episodes later, she would become Martha Jones, the Doctor’s new companion in Season 3. Apparently, she was invited to audition for the companion role after impressing the right people during her various auditions for the show.
Peter Capaldi also played Lobus Caecilius in Season 4’s ‘The Fires of Pompeii’, and would later return as the Twelfth Doctor. Coincidentally, Karen Gillian, who would play companion Amy Pond from Seasons 5-7, appeared as a Soothsayer in ‘The Fires of Pompeii’.
These are just a few examples of recurring actors throughout the series, with the point being that it’s not out of habit for the show to employ people more than once. It’s perfectly possible for Varada Sethu to return in a new season as a whole new character — especially since the ‘Boom’ ending saw Mundy Flynn vowing to stay and raise Splice after the death of her father.
Why will the Doctor have two companions?
It’s not out of the ordinary for the Doctor to travel with multiple companions, so having both Ruby and another makes some sense.
It was initially thought that Varada Sethu would be replacing Millie Gibson altogether for the upcoming season. However, Gibson later corrected this in an interview with Variety, saying: “It was a little bit of a misunderstanding. But I’m very much in Season 2.”
The Doctor has become known for having his one companion, but that’s not always been the case. In recent eras, the Doctor traveled with Rose and Mickey on more than one occasion, Amy Pond and Rory Williams multiple times, and Yaz, Ryan, and Graham for a good portion of their run.
Showrunner Russell T Davies has also indicated that the Doctor will need two companions going forward, which leads us to believe that the level of adventure and danger in Season 15 could be turned up to the max.
“I first worked with Varada on a BBC production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and it’s a joy to welcome her on board the TARDIS,” he said in a statement. “Right now in the studio, shooting for 2025, we’ve got Ncuti, Millie and Varada fighting side by side — we need all three, because the stakes are higher than ever!”
For more, check out our Doctor Who Season 14 release schedule, and find out more about this season’s villains so far, including Maestro and The Bogeyman. You can also find the ‘Space Babies’ ending explained and ‘The Devil’s Chord’ ending explained.