50 Actors Who Could Play the Next Doctor on Doctor Who
By Lacy Baugher
Actor Chiwetel Ejiofor arrives at the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards held at the Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE in Los Angeles, CA on August 25, 2014. (Photo By Adam Orchon/Sipa USA)
Chiwetel Ejiofor
Chiwetel Ejiofor is generally acknowledged to be one of the finest actors working today. He scored a (very deserved) Best Actor nomination in 2013 for his (phenomenal) performance in the Academy Award-winning film 12 Years a Slave. And let’s be real – he probably should have gone home with the statue that night. Besides that, he’s starred many solid films and television shows, including The Shadow Line, Dancing on the Edge, Children of Men and The Martian. Most recently, he starred opposite Benedict Cumberbatch in Marvel’s superhero hit Doctor Strange. Ejiofor is amazing, basically. And he would make an absolutely incredible Thirteen. You don’t’ have to just take my word for it either – several folks behind the scenes of the show already seem to think so.
A fairly long-running rumor seems to suggest that Ejiofor may have had a close encounter with the Doctor Who casting department once before. Showrunner Steve Moffat, speaking on the issue of diversity on the show, told Doctor Who Magazine that a black actor had almost been cast as the Doctor at one point. (This interview occurred back when Matt Smith was the Doctor so, ostensibly, this must be about David Tennant’s successor, who obviously did turn out to be Smith.)
According to Moffat:
"“Two non-white leads in Doctor Who would be amazing. In fact, a lot of people would barely notice…I certainly don’t think there’s ever been a problem with making the Doctor black, which is why it should happen one day. I mean, we’ve tried. The part has been offered to a black actor. But for various reasons, it didn’t work out.”"
And word on the street – or at least, in the Radio Times – seems to suggest that actor who turned the role down was Ejiofor. When Smith turned in his TARDIS key, Ejiofor’s name frequently got mentioned as a potential replacement. But nothing came of that again, and Capaldi became Twelve. Could we get third time lucky with Thirteen? Ejiofor would be an incredible choice. And who wouldn’t want an Oscar nominee to play the Doctor?