Nate was part of a crew of human colonists who had settled on the planet Gliese 581d in the far future.
When he awoke from stasis, he found out from the Twelfth Doctor and Bill Potts that the Vardies had killed the entire set-up team. At the orders of Steadfast, Nate and the other colonists armed themselves and decided to kill the robots who they thought were a threat. Nate helped Steadfast in a fight to save Praiseworthy from the Emojibots and the Vardies. Once the Doctor reset the memories of the Emojibots, he began negotiations between the humans and the Vardies who were willing to let them live in the city. (TV: Smile)