According to Deadline, Emmy Award winner Archie Panjabi (Under the Bridge, Snowpiercer) has been cast as a villain in Doctor Who season two. No details regarding her character have been revealed.
Panjabi is an Emmy award-winning British actress known for her roles in projects like Bend It Like Beckham, The Constant Gardener, The Fall, Shetland, and Blindspot. She is best known for playing Kalinda Sharma in six seasons of the CBS series The Good Wife. She earned three Emmy nominations for the role and won in 2010 for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. Currently, Panjabi stars in and executive-produces the Peacock Original series, Departure.
In addition to Panjabi, Varada Sethu (Andor, I Came By) has joined the cast of season two and will be playing the Doctor’s co-companion Belinda Chandra.
Doctor Who stars Ncuti Gatwa (Sex Education, Barbie) as the Fifteenth Doctor and Millie Gibson (Coronation Street, Jamie Johnson) as the Doctor’s companion, Ruby Sunday. The long-running BBC series premiered in 1963 and has followed a revolving cast of time lords and their companions as they travel through space and time using the TARDIS, a time-traveling ship shaped like a police box. Before Gatwa, the Doctor was played by other actors, including William Hartnell (An Unearthly Child, Carry On Sergreant), Tom Baker (Nicholas and Alexandra, Little Britain), Peter Capaldi (Paddington, The Suicide Squad), Matt Smith (House of the Dragon, The Crown), David Tennant (Good Omens, DuckTales), Jodie Whittaker (Broadchurch, Time) and Christopher Eccleston (Thor: The Dark World, Gone in 60 Seconds).
Doctor Who is produced by Bad Wolf, BBC Studios for Disney Branded Television and BBC. Russell T. Davies (Torchwood, It’s a Sin) is showrunner, executive producer and writer. Phil Collinson (Queer as Folk, Coronation Street), Joel Collins (His Dark Materials, Industry), Julie Gardner (Stuart: A Life Backwards, Dracula) and Jane Tranter (Succession, Torchwood) also serve as executive producers.
The Doctor is set to make his return to BBC and Disney+ in the holiday special Joy to the World on Christmas Day. Gatwa will be joined by Nicola Coughlan (Bridgerton, Derry Girls), who will be playing Joy. Season two of the series will premiere on BBC and Disney+ in 2025.