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Doctor Who is in full swing as the Fifteenth Doctor continues his mission to get Belinda Chandra home. However, in episode four, we take a short recess from this ongoing story to weave Ruby Sunday back into the mix. In the episode, she’s trying to process everything she experienced while traveling with the Doctor while also missing her alien best friend. Ruby thinks she’s found love in Conrad, a podcaster who coincidentally met the Doctor years prior. But things predictably go awry when he turns out to be a no-good, very bad dude. We caught up with Millie Gibson to talk about Ruby’s trauma, working with Jonah Hauer-King, and more. 

Nerdist: “Lucky Day� takes Ruby through the wringer, and it’s so sad! She’s already in a vulnerable emotional space. She thinks she found companionship and love with Conrad only for him to be a vile conspiracy theorist with a grudge against UNIT. How do you think that experience will change her and how does she try to heal from it? 

Millie Gibson: If I was her, I’d look in the mirror and just sob, but she’s stronger than me! However, in the end, she does say to Kate, “I think I just need time by myself alone to figure some things out.� and that’s what she needs. I picture it being some kind of Gallifreyan therapy or something that Kate’s given her or a contact to get with all the past companions for therapy meetings� I can say that she comes back in episodes seven and eight, so that gives you a little bit of insight so that she’s ready for more. They haven’t broken her completely yet. 

That’s great news! This ending definitely did not feel like a farewell for Ruby. When her story does come to an end, what do you think would be a nice sendoff for her? 

Gibson: Oh, that is such a good question! I picture her rocking it out with her band. I don’t think she’s going to go near men anytime soon [laughs]� I personally wouldn’t. And probably just nipping with Belinda every now and again. I think she just needs a simple life. She’s got her two mothers, she’s got her friends, even though they think she’s mental. We need to ask Russell [T Davies], but I hope it’s a happy one, not a sad one because she’s had many of them.

I’d love to see her living life as a musician. In this episode, we see Ruby and Kate at odds about how to handle Conrad. Kate really pushes the limit and allows the Shreek to come out and nearly kill him, while Ruby asks to protect him and even saves him. Why do you think Ruby held so much compassion for him at that moment despite his betrayal? 

Gibson: Ruby is just made up of love. She has a lot of love to give, and even though that love for Conrad got taken advantage of, I think death would’ve eaten her up too much versus him serving time for his wrongs. And if he did die, UNIT would have been in a whole lot more trouble than they were in the first place. So she was using her Doctor brain, but also her Ruby brain. 

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You’re absolutely right about that. It would’ve made them look more like the villain in that situation. Saving him showed that UNIT would reveal the truth but their job is to save him just like it is to save all of humanity on Earth, even those who don’t deserve it. 

Gibson: Exactly� I should have said that in so many more interviews! [laughs] 

Well, maybe we will see Ruby and Conrad together again. Through it all, you and Jonah Hauer-King had such great chemistry. Was it your first time working with him? And what was it like to collaborate with Jonah on set? 

Gibson: Yeah, it was my first time working with him, but hopefully not my last, because he’s an incredible actor. I remember reading the script and not knowing who [was playing] Conrad. So I was messaging Russell like, “Come on, tell me!�. And he was like, “Oh, has no one told you? It’s Jonah Hauer-King.� And I was buzzing, to say the least. He’s really gifted and he’s such a giving actor, and he has such a beautiful, calm nature about him on set that I really need. He is nothing like Conrad, obviously. 

There’s that almost Amy and Rory situation when they’re looking for the Shreek and he’s like, “It’s you and me. I can be the Doctor.� And it was almost that comedy romcom element of finding the monster like Scooby-Doo. We could never do that again because, like you said, he’s vile. I will miss that. But Jonah is so good. Those two versions of Conrad, I didn’t see it coming, even though I knew what was happening. He really went from this goofy, lovable nerd to this absolute monster. I also love that the real monster in both of the standalone episodes I’ve done, �73 Yards� and “Lucky Day,� is that the monster is the human, not the actual monster. 

Ahhh humanity. We are always our worst enemy. Considering everything that Ruby’s experienced, do you think meeting and traveling with the Doctor did more harm or good in her life? 

Gibson: Well, she never would’ve found her mom, so that’s definitely helped her as a person. I think in anyone’s daily life, you have to go through challenges to find yourself, and you’ve got to go through the bad to get through to the good. I just don’t think she’s at the really good part yet. But I do think if she didn’t meet the doctor, she wouldn’t be the person that she is today. It’s taught her a lot. It’s broken her a lot, but it’s also made her so much stronger, so much wiser and so much more brilliant. I feel like she’s going to be like Kate when she’s older, and she wouldn’t be like that if she hadn’t met the Doctor. 

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