50 Actors Who Could Play the Next Doctor on Doctor Who

Idris Elba in crime drama “Luther”. (Photo: BBC)

Idris Elba

There probably isn’t a list of “People Who Could Play the Next Doctor!” out there that doesn’t have Idris Elba on it. He’s one of the few casting choices that virtually everyone on Earth would agree with and applaud. Instantly. It would make everyone happy. Which is obviously why the BBC should just give him whatever he wants to do it.

That decision might be out of their hands, though. No matter how much we all might want Elba to join Doctor Who – he’s kind of a little busy these days. He’s the kind of phenomenal actor that everybody wants in their projects. Elba’s done a little bit of everything. He’s played a semi-ethical drug lord on The Wire. He’s played a tortured detective in Luther. And he canceled the apocalypse in Pacific Rim. (Among a ton of other roles, of course.) He’s even a D.J. in his spare time. Elba can clearly handle any kind of role. This is most clearly evidenced by the fact that he’s also on everyone’s short list to play the next James Bond. Just imagine what kind of amazing badass his Doctor would be?

But if we’re honest, as fantastic as he’d be as Thirteen? We probably all also know that Elba’s kind of gone beyond Doctor Who at this point. He’s a major star in his own right and seems to have no shortage of work. His next big movie is an adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series and his film career beyond that seems to be expanding on a virtually daily basis. But he’d be so incredible in the part, that it’s hard not to daydream about him. Even if it’s probably wishful thinking.